Shubhanshu Shukla Makes History, Becomes First Indian To Enter ISS

Air Force pilot Shubhanshu Shukla wrote a historic new chapter in the country's space exploration story Thursday after becoming the first Indian to float into the International Space Station.

Live visuals from the ISS showed Shukla, and the other three astronauts on the Crew Dragon capsule, being helped through the vestibule connecting the spacecraft and the ISS. Each had big grins on their face and were welcomed with bear hugs by the seven astronauts already on the ISS.

The four then lined up for a photo op drinking liquids from a foil packet.

The capsule that carried the astronauts - part of Axiom-4, a private mission - docked this evening, completing a 28-hour flight from Florida's Kennedy Space Centre to a point 424km over the northern Atlantic Ocean.

Docking is the procedure by which a spacecraft connects to the space station.

But before that docking can even begin the spacecraft must first rendezvous with the space station, meaning they must both be in the same orbital plane and be positioned close to each other.

What follows is a series of complicated manoeuvres, including precise positioning by matching positional (location) and velocity vectors (speed and direction) to confirm a safe and secure physical connection between the spacecraft and space station to allow exchange of astronauts and cargo.

And then, at 4.01 pm (India time), Mission Control confirmed a 'soft capture', i.e., a connection allowing the spacecraft, named Grace after it reached orbit, and the station some room to move to absorb kinetic energy generated during initial contact.

Minutes later a 'hard capture', i.e., a more robust connection, was confirmed and, at 4.15 pm (India time) NASA said the docking sequence had been completed. "We are honored to be here... thank you," Mission Commander Peggy Whitson told the International Space Station in a live stream of the docking.

The view from inside the Dragon capsule before it docked with the ISS.

Mr Shukla and the other three astronauts in the Dragon capsule - the US' Peggy Whitson, Slawoz Wisniewski of Poland and Hungarian Tibor Kapu - will not immediately join the other seven on the ISS.

It will take some time for the connection to the station to stablise and for the system to ensure there is no break in the seal or any issue with the link that could compromise astronauts' safety.

#Ax4's @SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docked with the @Space_Station at 6:31am ET (1031 UTC). Next, the mission crew and our NASA astronauts will prepare to open the hatches. pic.twitter.com/Qj1sgy7RzC

— NASA (@NASA) June 26, 2025

The hatch separating the ISS and the Dragon capsule will open at 6.10 pm (India time).

Axiom-4's journey began at 12.01 pm Wednesday when SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Launch Complex 39A, the same site, in fact, that launched Neil Armstrong and the Apollo 11 mission.

The Axiom 4 mission astronauts.(L to R: Shukla, Whitson, Wisniewski, Kapu.

The launch had been delayed six times and hovered on the edge of a seventh after a software glitch prevented upload of weather data. However, that was resolved with minutes to go and, a little past 12.01 pm (India time), the Falcon 9 rocket's powerful Merlin engines roared into life.

Shukla and his fellow astronauts have a busy 14 days ahead of them.

READ | Water Bears To Space Farming: India's 7 Experiments On Space Station

Over the next fortnight they will conduct 60 experiments, seven of which were proposed by India, including one to study 'water bears' - microscopic organisations - to understand how living things adapt to microgravity. The focus will also be on bio-manufacturing and bio-astronautics' during the mission.

'Thrilled To Be Here'

Earlier today, in the Dragon capsule as it hurtled towards the ISS, Air Force Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the mission pilot, described the launch as 'magical' and reflected on his journey.

"I am thrilled to be here with my fellow astronauts... what a ride it was. Honestly, as I finally sat on the launchpad after 30 days of quarantine (thanks to numerous launch delays), all I could think was... 'let's just go!'. When it happened... it was something else entirely. You're pushed back into the seat and then, suddenly, there's silence. You're just floating in the vacuum... and it's magical," he said.

Shukla also expressed gratitude to the muriad engineers and scientists around the world who made this mission possible, calling the experience a 'collective achievement'. "I truly appreciate the efforts of every individual who made this journey possible. This accomplishment belongs to all of us," he said.

WIth input from agencies

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