Shubhanshu Shukla has become the second Indian ever and first since 1984 to travel to space. SpaceX鈥檚 Axiom Mission 4, carrying the Indian Air Force officer, successfully docked at the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, SpaceX has said.
Shukla was selected for the South Asian nation鈥檚 first human spaceflight mission to the ISS. The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft lifted off from NASA鈥檚 Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on Wednesday, following nearly a month of delays.
Shukla became the first Indian to travel to space after Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma鈥檚 spaceflight aboard a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft in 1984. The air force officer, who was chosen by the Indian Department of Space as the prime astronaut for the mission, underwent an extensive training program with three other astronaut designates at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center near Moscow in 2020.
On Thursday, he sent greetings from space with a 鈥榥amaskar鈥, a traditional Indian greeting. 鈥漇ince yesterday, I鈥檝e been told that I鈥檓 sleeping a lot, which is a good sign,鈥 Shukla said on a SpaceX livestream. 鈥淚鈥檓 getting used to this quite well, enjoying the views, enjoying the entire experience.鈥
He added that he was 鈥渓earning like a baby… how to walk and eat in space… It鈥檚 good to make mistakes, but it is better to see someone else do that, too.鈥 The Axiom Mission 4 carried Shukla and three other crew members to the ISS.
Aboard the ISS, Shukla will conduct research on microscopic organisms known as tardigrades to understand how living things adapt to microgravity. Muscle regeneration, the growth of sprouts, the survival of tiny aquatic organisms, and human interaction with electronic displays in microgravity will also be studied, as well as the effects of microgravity and space radiation on edible microalgae, a potential food source for future space missions.