International Space Mission is taking Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla to fly in May: Center

New Delhi: India is ready to make history in space exploration once again as the captain of the Indian Air Force Group. Shubhanshu Shukla Will fly for International Space Station (ISS) in May 2025. Center confirmed his selection Axiom Mission 4 (AX-4), Private Spaceflight approved by a NASA conducted by Axiom Space. Shukla will be the second Indian to travel in space after four decades of Rakesh Sharma's 1984 mission.Minister of State for Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh, after a high-level review of ISRO's upcoming projects, described the mission as a decisive moment for India's space trip. Shukla's role also aligns India's big ambitions under the country's first human spaceflight mission, Gaganian program.Shukla will serve as a pilot on the AX-4 mission with NASA's former astronaut Paigi Whitson, leading the crew. Other members include Slavose Uznanski-Visnivski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary. The team will launch a SpaceX Dragon from Florida in a spacecraft and spend 14 days on ISS scientific research and operation of outreach.Group captain Prasant Balakrishnan Nair has been named Shukla's backup. Mission is an important step in growing cooperation between ISRO, NASA and private space undertakings. var _mfq = window._mfq || []; _mfq.push(["setVariable", "toi_titan", window.location.href]); !(function(f, b, e, v, n, t, s) { function loadFBEvents(isFBCampaignActive) { if (!isFBCampaignActive) { return; } (function(f, b, e, v, n, t, s) { if (f.fbq) return; n = f.fbq = function() { n.callMethod ? n.callMethod(...arguments) : n.queue.push(arguments); }; if (!f._fbq) f._fbq = n; n.push = n; n.loaded = !0; n.version = '2.0'; n.queue = []; t = b.createElement(e); t.async = !0; t.defer = !0; t.src = v; s = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s); })(f, b, e, 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js', n, t, s); fbq('init', '593671331875494'); fbq('track', 'PageView'); }; function loadGtagEvents(isGoogleCampaignActive) { if (!isGoogleCampaignActive) { return; } var id = document.getElementById('toi-plus-google-campaign'); if (id) { return; } (function(f, b, e, v, n, t, s) { t = b.createElement(e); t.async = !0; t.defer = !0; t.src = v; t.id = 'toi-plus-google-campaign'; s = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s); })(f, b, e, 'https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=AW-877820074', n, t, s); }; function loadSurvicateJs(allowedSurvicateSections = []){ const section = window.location.pathname.split('/')[1] const isHomePageAllowed = window.location.pathname === '/' && allowedSurvicateSections.includes('homepage') if(allowedSurvicateSections.includes(section) || isHomePageAllowed){ (function(w) { function setAttributes() { var prime_user_status = window.isPrime ? 'paid' : 'free' ; w._sva.setVisitorTraits({ toi_user_subscription_status : prime_user_status }); } if (w._sva && w._sva.setVisitorTraits) { setAttributes(); } else { w.addEventListener("SurvicateReady", setAttributes); } var s = document.createElement('script'); s.src="https://survey.survicate.com/workspaces/0be6ae9845d14a7c8ff08a7a00bd9b21/web_surveys.js"; s.async = true; var e = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; e.parentNode.insertBefore(s, e); })(window); } } window.TimesApps = window.TimesApps || {}; var TimesApps = window.TimesApps; TimesApps.toiPlusEvents = function(config) { var isConfigAvailable = "toiplus_site_settings" in f && "isFBCampaignActive" in f.toiplus_site_settings && "isGoogleCampaignActive" in f.toiplus_site_settings; var isPrimeUser = window.isPrime; var isPrimeUserLayout = window.isPrimeUserLayout; if (isConfigAvailable && !isPrimeUser) { loadGtagEvents(f.toiplus_site_settings.isGoogleCampaignActive); loadFBEvents(f.toiplus_site_settings.isFBCampaignActive); loadSurvicateJs(f.toiplus_site_settings.allowedSurvicateSections); } else { var JarvisUrl="https://jarvis.indiatimes.com/v1/feeds/toi_plus/site_settings/643526e21443833f0c454615?db_env=published"; window.getFromClient(JarvisUrl, function(config){ if (config) { const allowedSectionSuricate = (isPrimeUserLayout) ? config?.allowedSurvicatePrimeSections : config?.allowedSurvicateSections loadGtagEvents(config?.isGoogleCampaignActive); loadFBEvents(config?.isFBCampaignActive); loadSurvicateJs(allowedSectionSuricate); } }) } }; })( window, document, 'script', );