Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla is set to make history on Tuesday by becoming the first Indian to reach the International Space Station (ISS). He will travel aboard the Axiom Mission-4 (Ax-4), launched by US-based Axiom Space in partnership with SpaceX.
The launch will take place from Kennedy Space Centre, Florida, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Scheduled for June 10 at 8:22 AM ET (5:52 PM IST), the mission was delayed twice before being finalised.
Shukla will be the second Indian to go to space after Rakesh Sharma, who flew to the Soviet space station Salyut 7 in 1984. During a recent press briefing, Shukla expressed full confidence in the success of Mission-4.
In an earlier interview, he stated his desire to ‘inspire an entire generation to pursue careers in space’, just as Sharma’s mission had inspired him.
Shukla will pilot the mission along with American commander Peggy Whitson. Polish astronaut Sławosz Uznanski-Wisniewski and Hungarian astronaut Tibor Kapu will join as mission specialists.
Once aboard the ISS, Group Captain Shukla of the Indian Air Force will conduct exclusive food and nutrition experiments. These are developed by ISRO and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) with NASA’s support.
The experiment will test the effect of microgravity and space radiation on edible microalgae, a potential long-term nutrition source. It will examine growth, transcriptomes, proteomes, and metabolomes of different algae species compared to Earth conditions.
Meanwhile, Axiom Space confirmed its full readiness for the mission. The Ax-4 crew completed all rehearsals with SpaceX teams.
A backup launch window is, however, set for June 11 at 8:00 AM ET (5:30 PM IST).
The Ax-4 mission is the second fully commercial spaceflight to the ISS. It includes astronauts sponsored by various governments and ESA. The crew will conduct around 60 scientific studies with contributions from 31 countries, including India, the US, Hungary, Poland, Brazil, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and several European nations.
Taking to X, Axiom Space posted, “Go #Ax4! #AxiomLeads.”
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