Indian Air Force (IAF) group captain Shubhanshu Shukla has been selected as the pilot for Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4), NASA announced on Thursday. He will become the first Indian astronaut to travel to the International Space Station (ISS) on a private mission.
The American space agency will launch the mission from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, using a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, in the spring of 2025. It will last up to 14 days. The crew will conduct scientific experiments, outreach programs, and commercial activities in microgravity as part of a collaborative mission between NASA and ISRO.
Who is Shubhanshu Shukla?
1. Born on October 10, 1985, in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, Shubhanshu Shukla is an Indian astronaut and a candidate for India’s historic Gaganyaan mission, which will send the country’s first astronauts to space. He graduated from the National Defence Academy (NDA) in 2005 and was commissioned into the Fighter stream of the Indian Air Force in June 2006.
2. Mr Shukla is an experienced test pilot and combat leader with over 2,000 hours of flying experience on an array of aircraft, including the An-32, Jaguar, Hawk, MiG-21, MiG-29, and Su-30 MKI. He was promoted to wing commander in June 2019 and selected for the IAF’s astronaut program through the Institute of Aerospace Medicine (IAM) the same year.
3. In 2021, Shubhanshu Shukla went to Russia to complete his basic training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. After his return, he continued his training at the Astronaut Training Facility in Bengaluru. In 2024, he was promoted to group captain in the IAF.
4. In August 2024, ISRO announced him as the pilot for Axiom Mission 4, a private mission to the International Space Station (ISS) scheduled for spring 2025. Mr Shukla will be the second Indian to go to space, four decades after Rakesh Sharma flew to space station Salyut 7.
5. Mr Shukla is the youngest of three siblings and is the first person in his family to join the armed forces. He is married to a dentist named Kamna Shubha Shukla.