NEW DELHI, Jan 31: Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla, an officer in the Indian Air Force (IAF), has been selected as the pilot for NASA’s Private Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) to the International Space Station (ISS), scheduled for Spring 2025. Shukla, who was recently chosen as the ‘Prime’ astronaut for India’s Gaganyaan mission, will play a key role in the upcoming mission, which marks a significant milestone in India’s human spaceflight journey.
The Ax-4 mission will be commanded by former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, now the director of Human Spaceflight at Axiom Space. The mission will also feature two mission specialists: ESA astronaut Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary. The mission is notable for being the first government-sponsored human spaceflight for India, Poland, and Hungary in over 40 years.
Shubhanshu Shukla, a highly experienced IAF officer, has accumulated over 2,000 hours of flight experience across various aircraft, including the Su-30 MKI, MiG-21, MiG-29, Jaguar, Hawk, Dornier, and An-32. Since his commissioning into the IAF fighter wing in June 2006, Shukla has proven himself as a seasoned test pilot and combat leader, rising to the rank of Group Captain in March 2024.
In 2019, Shukla received a call from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to undergo rigorous training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Moscow, where he completed a year-long preparation. On February 27, 2024, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Shukla as one of the astronauts undergoing intensive training for India’s maiden human spaceflight mission, Gaganyaan, set to launch in 2025.
In August 2024, Shukla was selected as the ‘Prime’ astronaut for the Indo-US mission to the ISS, with Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair serving as the backup astronaut. The Gaganyaan mission is India’s ambitious spaceflight project, aiming to demonstrate the country’s human spaceflight capabilities with a three-member crew orbiting 400 km above Earth for a three-day mission, culminating in a safe return to Indian sea waters.
India’s space sector has seen significant advancements over the past year, including the successful Chandrayaan-3 lunar landing, the launch of the Aditya L1 Solar Mission, and critical milestones in the Gaganyaan human spaceflight program. The country’s space agency, ISRO, continues to expand its capabilities with plans for lunar exploration, reusable launch vehicles, and an Indian space station by 2035. On January 29, ISRO also celebrated its 100th launch with the successful deployment of the NVS-02 satellite on the GSLV-F15 rocket.
