After a number of delays, Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla’s Axiom-4 mission (Ax-4) to the International Space Station (ISS) was launched on Wednesday (June 25, 2025) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
In his first message from the mission, Shubhanshu Shukla mentioned that this isn’t the beginning of his journey, however the begin of India’s human area programme.
“Namaskar my dear countrymen. What a ride. After 40 years we have once again reached space and it was an amazing ride. On my shoulders I have my tri-colour which is telling me that I am not alone and that you are all with me,” he mentioned.
(*3*) he added.
Group Captain Shukla’s who’s the pilot of the Ax-4 mission together with different 4 crew members Commander Peggy Whitson of the U.S., Mission Specialist Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland, and Mission Specialist Tibor Kapu of Hungary embarked on a 28 hour journey to the ISS on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft after launching on the Falcon 9 rocket.
Crew to spend 14 days at ISS
The focused docking time on the orbiting laboratory is roughly 7 a.m. Eastern Time (4.30 p.m. IST) on June 26. The Axiom Mission 4 crew will spend up to 14 days on the ISS.
Group Captain Shukla, will turn out to be the primary Indian astronaut to go to the ISS , and has turn out to be the primary Indian to attain area within the final 40 years.
Rakesh Sharma was the final Indian to go to area when he travelled to area in 1984 onboard the erstwhile Soviet Union’s Soyuz spacecraft.
On Wednesday at 12.01 p.m., the Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre, and roughly 10 minutes after raise off, the Dragon separated from the second stage of the rocket, and the Dragon nosecone open sequence started.
Post docking the crew members will spend 14 days onboard the ISS conducting science, outreach, and industrial actions.
The Ax-4 analysis complement contains round 60 scientific research and actions representing 31 nations, together with the U.S., India, Poland, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Nigeria, UAE, and nations throughout Europe.
ISRO has shortlisted seven microgravity analysis experiments proposed by Indian (PIs) from varied nationwide R&D laboratories and educational establishments which Group Captain Shukla could be conducting throughout his 14-day keep on the ISS.
ISRO and NASA may also be collaborating in 5 joint science investigations and two in-orbit STEM (science, know-how, engineering, and arithmetic) demonstrations.
The crew had been in quarantine since May 25, 2025 because the launch initially focused on May 29, 2025, nevertheless it was deferred a number of occasions due to varied causes starting from remark in electrical harness in Crew Dragon Module, delay in preparedness of the Falcon 9 car, unfavourable climate, liquid oxygen leak on Falcon 9 and a snag within the Zvezda service module aboard the ISS.
