Indian Air Force (IAF) Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla will fly to the International Space Station (ISS) on May 29, Axiom Space Inc announced on Tuesday, as he prepares to become the first Indian to do so.
According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Mr Shukla will pilot the Axiom Mission 4, a private astronaut mission that will launch aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on a Falcon 9 rocket.
The 40-year-old will be accompanied by Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut and mission commander, Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary.
The mission, which is jointly being undertaken by NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), will be launched at 10.33pm (IST) from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. India has paid more than $60 million for the mission.
"Mark your calendars. The #Ax4 crew is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station on May 29 at 1:03pm EDT (10:33pm IST) from Florida," Axiom Space Inc said in a post on X.
Once docked, the astronauts are scheduled to spend up to 14 days aboard the orbiting laboratory, conducting a mission comprising science, outreach and commercial activities.
Group Captain Shukla will serve as the astronaut designate and Mission Pilot. A decorated test pilot with the IAF, he was shortlisted under ISRO's Human Spaceflight Program (HSP) and is among the top contenders for the Gaganyaan mission, India's first indigenous crewed orbital flight. His journey aboard the Axiom Mission 4 is expected to provide critical hands-on experience in spaceflight operations, launch protocols, microgravity adaptation, and emergency preparedness - all essential for India's crewed space ambitions.
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"India is ready for its next space milestone," Minister of State (MoS) for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh said earlier, underscoring the significance of the upcoming human spaceflight.
The Union Minister noted that collaboration with international partners and the strategic momentum of projects like Gaganyaan reflect India's commitment to becoming a global leader in space technology. He emphasised that these efforts are not only scientific in nature but also aligned with the vision of a developed and self-reliant India.
Mr Shukla will conduct seven experiments in the fields of agriculture, food and human biology when he travels to the ISS next month.
Mr Shukla will do "fantastically as an astronaut to the space station", ISRO Chairman Dr V Narayanan told NDTV earlier. Incidentally, ISRO is using the Ax-4 flight as an opportunity to master human space flight as part of preparations for the Gaganyaan and Bharatiya Antariksha Station missions.
Shukla's travel to space comes four decades after Rakesh Sharma's iconic spaceflight onboard Russia's Soyuz spacecraft in 1984.
Uznański, European Space Agency (ESA) project astronaut, will be the second Polish astronaut since 1978. Kapu will be the second national Hungarian astronaut since 1980. Whitson will command her second commercial human spaceflight mission, adding to her standing record for the longest cumulative time in space by an American astronaut.
India has also picked Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair as a designated astronaut, who will become part of Ax-4 should Mr Shukla be unable to fly.
