Four decades after Rakesh Sharma’s historic flight, India has returned to human spaceflight. Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla’s journey aboard Axiom Mission 4 marks not just personal glory but heralds a new chapter in the nation’s cosmic ambitions. A report by Priyanka Tanwer
Forty-one years after Rakesh Sharma etched his name in history as the first Indian in space, another Indian name now echoes among the stars. On June 25, 2025, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, an accomplished Indian Air Force pilot, soared into orbit aboard Axiom Mission 4—a privately funded international mission launched by SpaceX—becoming only the second Indian ever to travel into space.
The launch, which took place from NASA’s iconic launch complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, carried four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the Dragon capsule “Grace.”
For Shukla, the journey was not just personal. It symbolized the rekindling of India’s long-dormant human spaceflight programme and heralded a new chapter in the nation’s cosmic ambitions.
The rocket’s white flame cut across the sky at 2:34 pm, carrying with it the aspirations of 1.4 billion Indians. Shukla’s participation in Axiom-4 (Ax-4) is historic in more ways than one. Not only is he the first Indian in space since 1984, but he is also the first Indian astronaut aboard the ISS, a floating laboratory where nations collaborate on humanity’s greatest scientific frontiers.
For many, the mission marks the end of a four-decade drought in Indian crewed spaceflight. After Rakesh Sharma’s week-long mission aboard the Soviet Soyuz T-11 in April 1984, India’s focus had largely remained on satellite development and unmanned exploration.
However, that changed in recent years as India’s space agency, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) began developing its indigenous human spaceflight programme — Gaganyaan. But with crewed Gaganyaan missions still two years away, partnering with Axiom Space gave India a shortcut to experience the rigors of life in orbit.
Shubhanshu Shukla, 39, joined three other astronauts on the Ax-4 mission, including Peggy Whitson, veteran American astronaut and mission commander, Sławosz Uznanski-Wiśniewski, an ESA-backed scientist from Poland, and Tibor Kapu, a mechanical engineer from Hungary.
The team docked with the ISS on June 26 at 16.01 IST, nearly 28 hours after launch. They were greeted by the Expedition 71 crew already aboard the station. Over the course of their two-week mission, the Ax-4 astronauts will conduct more than 60 scientific experiments—ranging from microgravity’s effects on cancer cell growth to DNA repair and microbial resistance.
