Tears In Eyes, Hands Folded: How Mother Saw Shubhanshu Shukla Space Flight

Tears in her eyes, prayers on her lips, a distraught Asha Shukla stared unblinkingly at a large screen as the Axiom-4 spacecraft headed to the International Space Station with her son, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla (39). Seated beside her, the Indian Air Force pilot's father, Shambhu Dayal Shukla, smiled with excitement.

Minutes later, after the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from the Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a visibly relieved Asha Shukla smiled as she told the media that she wishes the best for her son, who is now the second Indian to go to space.

Group Captain Shukla has gone to space four decades after Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma made the cosmic journey as part of a Soviet mission in 1984. The Indian Air Force pilot has been in quarantine for over a month to ensure he stays healthy.

Besides Group Captain Shukla, the pilot for the mission, specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary, and Commander Peggy Whitson of the US are aboard the spacecraft.

The four-member crew of the Axiom-4 Mission is headed to the International Space Station. During the fortnight-long mission, they will conduct 60 scientific experiments, seven of which have been proposed by Indian researchers. Group Captain Shukla is likely to interact with a VIP from space.

Hours before his historic journey, Group Captain Shukla told his family: "Just wait for me, I'm coming." This morning, his mother performed an Indian ritual wishing him luck. She offered him dahi cheeni, a mixture of yoghurt and sugar, over a video call. It is a ritual observed in many Indian households before someone sets out for an important task and is believed to bring good luck. "We just told him to go and complete his mission, and then we will meet again," his mother told NDTV.