Mission may help India's pvt space sector take off: Industry

If Sharma's words once captured a generation's imagination, Shukla's mission lands in a different context: One shaped by India's emerging commercial space sector and its growing integration into global supply chains and research networks.

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The Axiom mission, a joint venture between NASA and Houston-based Axiom Space, is emblematic of that shift. It's a commercially managed flight, launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, and operated through the Crew Dragon C213 capsule.

The implications stretch far beyond symbolism. While space ambitions of Indian private sector majors like Larsen & Toubro, the Tata group, and Ananth Technologies are expected to get a lift, startups including Dhruva Space, Bellatrix Aerospace, Skyroot, and Agnikul Cosmos are positioned to ride the next wave of activity in the sector.

"The Tiranga embossed on my shoulders tells me that I am with all of you. This is not just the beginning of my journey to the ISS, but the beginning of India's human space programme,"

Once the Dragon capsule docks after its 28-hour journey, Shukla will become the first Indian to reach the ISS. He joins three other astronauts -- retired NASA astronaut and Mission Commander Peggy Whitson (US), Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski (Poland), and Tibor Kapu (Hungary) -- for a 14-day mission involving over 60 research experiments from 31 countries, seven of which have been proposed by Indian researchers.