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NEW DELHI: Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal AP Singh on Tuesday interacted via video conference with Group Captain Shubahanshu Shukla, who is set to embark on the Axiom-4 space mission, an official statement from the Indian Air Force (IAF) said.
Air Chief Marshal Singh extended wishes to Group Captain Shukla, who will be India’s second astronaut to go to space since 1984.
In a post on X, IAF said, “As Group Captain Shubahanshu Shukla prepares to embark on the Axiom-4 space mission tomorrow, Chief of the Air Staff and all Air Warriors of IAF wish him and the entire crew of Axiom-4 all the best for a safe and successful trip to the International Space Station. This will add a new chapter to the Indian Space Odyssey”.
Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla is part of Axiom Space’s fourth private astronaut mission (Ax-4), marking a historic moment for India’s space collaboration with NASA.
In a video message shared by Axiom Space, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla shared a stirring message ahead of his departure. The video by Axiom Space praised his technological prowess and described him as a fighter pilot for 15 years.
In the video message, he said, “I’m Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla. The first Indian astronaut, Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, travelled to space in 1984. I grew up reading about him in textbooks and listening to his stories from space. I was deeply, deeply impressed by him. This journey that I’m on has been a long one for me. I didn’t know that this was the path I was going to finally take. I would say that I have been extremely fortunate and extremely lucky to have gotten the opportunities to first, fly all my life, which was a dream job for me, and then have the opportunity to apply to the astronaut course, and now, consequently, be here. The way this worked out for me was that probably a week before we arrived at Axiom was the time I came to know that I would be going. I was extremely excited to be here. I was very, very happy because this was a possibility for me to fly to space. ”
The Axiom-4 mission launch was postponed to June 11, 2025, due to unfavourable weather conditions. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced that the mission, carrying Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla to the International Space Station (ISS), will now lift off at 5:30 PM IST on June 11.
The Ax-4 crew includes members from India, Poland, and Hungary, marking each nation’s first mission to the space station in history and the second government-sponsored human spaceflight mission in over 40 years, according to Axiom Space. Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla will be India’s second national astronaut to go to space since 1984.
SpaceX Vice President of Build and Flight Reliability, William Gerstenmaier, highlighted the company’s focus on safety and reliability in its Dragon capsule missions, saying the “design changed several propulsion components to make them reliable and more useful.”
“So this isn’t just the same Dragon capsule you’re flying. We’ve actually made some improvements and actually made it better to continue to keep flying safe,” Gerstenmaier said on Tuesday (local time) in an Axiom 4 post-launch readiness review press conference.
“So far this year, SpaceX teams have long spring drag missions, two of which were human spaceflight missions, with all of them launching within 38 days of one another. And while we were working on those, the teams were also looking ahead and preparing for action,” he added.
Notably, SpaceX is on track to achieve a record-breaking year, but it still has a significant number of launches left to reach its ambitious target of 170 orbital missions in 2025. With several launches already completed, the company has around 100 more missions to go to meet its goal.(Agencies)
