GUWAHATI: NASA’s officially approved Axiom-4 mission will see Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla of the Indian Air Force piloting a private spaceflight to the International Space Station (ISS). The mission was given green light by the space research organisation on Wednesday, January 29.
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Scheduled for launch in spring 2025, this mission will make Shukla the first Indian astronaut to travel to the ISS.
Shukla and his backup astronaut, Group Captain Prashanth Nair, have undergone extensive training with NASA, ESA, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in preparation for the mission.
The Axiom-4 (Ax-4) mission is the fourth private astronaut mission to the ISS, organised by Axiom Space and approved by NASA and international space agencies. The crew will travel aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft for a 14-day stay at the ISS.
Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut and Axiom Space’s Director of Human Spaceflight, will command the mission. Joining them will be two European Space Agency (ESA) astronauts—Sławosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary.
Axiom Space has been leading private astronaut missions to the ISS since 2022. The upcoming Ax-4 mission will build on the success of previous flights, including Axiom Mission 1 in April 2022 and Axiom Mission 2 in May 2023.
