Giving a cosmic leap to India, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, an Indian Air Force pilot, on Wednesday took off to space on SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft. The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off to the International Space Station from NASA鈥檚 Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, marking the success of the Axiom-4 Mission after repeated delays.
The moment when the Axiom-4 lifted off from NASA鈥檚 Kennedy Space Centre onboard an India 鈥 Shubhanshu Shukla 鈥 filled the hearts of 140 crore countrymen with pride.
WATCH | #Axiom4Mission lifts off from NASA鈥檚 Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, US. The mission is being piloted by India鈥檚 IAF Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla. The crew is travelling to the International Space Station (ISS) on a new SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on the company鈥檚 Falcon鈥 pic.twitter.com/jPDKcB44NM
鈥 ANI (@ANI) June 25, 2025
Notably, this is the fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station by NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX.
With this, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla has become the second Indian to travel into space, marking a historic leap for India after a gap of four decades since Rakesh Sharma鈥檚 legendary spaceflight in 1984.
Shukla, an Indian Air Force officer and a key astronaut under India鈥檚 Gaganyaan program. He was chosen by ISRO as the prime astronaut for this flight.
He is accompanied by three other astronauts, including Commander Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut. S艂awosz Uznan虂ski-Wis虂niewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary have joined Witson and Shukla.