Shukla makes history, becomes 1st Indian to enter Space Station

In a giant leap for India, Indian Air Force (IAF) Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla on Thursday scripted history by becoming the first from the country to enter the International Space Station (ISS).

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After a long and ardent wait of 41 years, India now has an astronaut in space. Lucknow-born Shukla is also the second Indian in space after Rakesh Sharma, who flew to space in 1984.

"#Ax4 have entered the Space_Station," said Axiom Space in a post on social media platform X, more than hour after docking.

The mission-4 carrying Shukla, along with three others from the US, Poland, and Hungary, had docked to the Harmony module's space-facing port at 6:30 a.m. ET (4:00 pm IST).

SpaceX Dragon spacecraft named 'Grace' is carrying Ax-4 Commander Peggy Whitson, Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla, and Mission Specialists Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski and Tibor Kapu.

Nasa added that the crew have "emerged from the Dragon spacecraft and are getting their first look at their home in low Earth orbit." The AX-4 crew were welcomed onboard the orbital post by seven Expedition 73 crew members, namely, Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, Kirill Peskov, Jonny Kim, Sergey Ryzhikov, Alexey Zubritsky, and Takuya Onishi.