Shubhanshu Shukla's family, friends count the days to space odyssey

The 39-year-old Lucknow boy's much anticipated space voyage, scheduled June 10 from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, will also mark India’s return to human spaceflight after Rakesh Sharma's 1984 odyssey

- PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

His countdown to space, the final frontier, has begun. And Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla’s family and friends are anxiously ticking off the days before he lifts off on board SpaceX’s Falcon-9 rocket that will propel him into history as the first Indian to step onto the International Space Station (ISS).

The 39-year-old Lucknow boy's much anticipated space voyage, scheduled June 10 from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, will also mark India’s return to human spaceflight after Rakesh Sharma's 1984 odyssey.

“It’s true that as our son stands on the brink of history and is set to represent India in NASA’s AXIOM-4 mission to the ISS. It’s an immensely proud moment not just for us but for the country, and we are praying for the success of this space mission each day,” Shukla’s Lucknow-based father Shambhu, a retired government employee, told PTI.