Hours before his historic journey to space, Indian Air Force Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, preparing to board a SpaceX spacecraft bound for the International Space Station (ISS), shared a message with his family: "Just wait for me, I'm coming."
Early in the morning today, his mother performed an Indian ritual. She "fed him" dahi cheeni, a mixture of yoghurt and sugar, virtually, via video call. It is a tradition observed by many Indian households before embarking upon anything important, 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.
"These are tears of joy. Maybe because he is going so far away," said his sister. "We don't have any scale for how excited we can be. We are happy and proud. But it's a kind of mix of emotions."
"Before leaving for the mission, when he was getting ready, he spoke to us. He was smiling. He was happy. He was waiting for this moment for a long time," she added.
At 12:01 PM IST today, Mr Shukla, 39, will lift off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. This launch, from the historic Launch Complex 39A-also the site of the Apollo 11 mission-will mark a significant milestone for India's presence in human spaceflight.
Mr Shukla becomes only the second Indian to travel to space, following in the footsteps of Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, who flew aboard a Soviet Soyuz mission in 1984. His participation is a result of a joint initiative between ISRO and NASA, formalised during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 2023 state visit to Washington.
Mr Shukla is serving as the pilot of the Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4), a private crewed spaceflight operated by Houston-based Axiom Space. Commanding the mission is veteran astronaut and Axiom's Director of Human Spaceflight, Peggy Whitson. The other two mission specialists are Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland, representing the European Space Agency (ESA), and Tibor Kapu of Hungary, under the HUNOR (Hungarian to Orbit) programme.
Their destination: the International Space Station, currently home to seven astronauts. The Ax-4 crew is scheduled to dock with the ISS around 4:30 PM IST on Thursday, June 26, following a roughly 28-hour orbital journey aboard SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft.
