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A decorated test pilot with the IAF, Shukla was shortlisted under ISRO’s Human Spaceflight Program (HSP) and is among the top contenders for the Gaganyaan mission.
IAF Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla (File)
Indian Air Force’s (IAF) Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, a Gaganyatri or astronaut-designate, is set to travel to the International Space Station (ISS) in May as part of an Axiom-4 mission, the Centre announced on Friday.
Union Minister for Space and Technology Dr Jitendra Singh said, “The International space mission carrying an Indian astronaut is scheduled for next month. India is poised to script a defining chapter in its space journey. An Indian astronaut is set for a historic space mission as ISRO charts bold new frontiers. India’s space dreams are soaring higher with Gaganyaan preparations, ISS mission, and a summer of launches.”
Shukla will fly to the ISS on a privately funded commercial mission. India has reportedly paid over $60 million for the mission.
Axiom-4 Mission
Ax-4 will be the fourth private astronaut mission to the ISS. The mission is scheduled to launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, which will be propelled by a Falcon 9 rocket.
The commander of the Axiom-4 (Ax-4) mission will be former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, who now works for Axiom Space. The other two crew members are Slawosz Uznanski from Poland, who is a European Space Agency astronaut and will be a mission specialist, and Hungary’s Tibor Kapu, who will also have the same role. Group Captain Shukla will be the mission’s pilot.
Who Is Shubhanshu Shukla?
Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, hailing from Lucknow, is an alumnus of City Montessori School in Aliganj. Commissioned as a fighter pilot in 2006, he has accumulated over 16 years of service and more than 2,000 flying hours.
Fondly called as Gunjan, Shukla is the youngest of three siblings and the first in his family to join the armed forces.
Shubhanshu was commissioned into the Indian Air Force on June 17, 2006, and describes his career as a “rollercoaster ride.” He has excelled in his field, becoming a fighter combat leader and test pilot with experience in various aircraft, including the Su-30MKI, MIG-21, MIG-29, Jaguar, and Hawk.
A decorated test pilot with the IAF, Shukla was shortlisted under ISRO’s Human Spaceflight Program (HSP) and is among the top contenders for the Gaganyaan mission.
He has been training with NASA and the private space company Axiom Space for the past eight months.
Group Captain Shukla will also be the first astronaut from the country to travel to space in over four decades after Rakesh Sharma’s iconic 1984 flight aboard a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft.
(With inputs from agencies)