Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, an Indian Air Force pilot, made history today by becoming the second Indian after Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma to travel to space, and the first to board the International Space Station (ISS) as part of a commercial space mission.
The Axiom-4, carrying Shubhanshu Shukla and three other astronauts, was successfully launched to the ISS on Wednesday.
Born and raised in Lucknow, Shukla completed his schooling at the City Montessori School's Aliganj campus. A turning point in his life came during the 1999 Kargil War, which deeply inspired him to serve the nation. Motivated by this, he cleared the National Defence Academy (NDA) entrance exam to pursue his dream.
He earned a BSc in Computer Science from NDA in 2005, after which he underwent pilot training at the Indian Air Force Academy and was commissioned into the fighter stream in 2006. He later pursued an MTech in Aerospace Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru.
Shukla was selected for India's Gaganyaan mission in 2019, which brought him into the astronaut training programme. He underwent training at the prestigious Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Russia, completing the course in 2021.
He continued his mission-specific training at the Astronaut Training Facility in Bengaluru, further honing his skills.
