'Shukla set for space travel next month'

Air Force Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla will become the first Indian to visit the International Space Station (ISS) next month, the government announced on Friday, in what will mark the nation's return to human spaceflight after four decades.

- Snehal Fernandes

MUMBAI:

The announcement was made by Jitendra Singh, the Union minister of state (independent charge) for science and technology, following a high-level meeting to review the Indian Space Research Organisation's (Isro) upcoming missions chaired by Isro chairman V Narayanan.

The 39-year-old decorated test pilot will join the Axiom Space's Ax-4 mission in May 2025, a Nasa-approved private spaceflight that will dock with the ISS for up to 14 days.

"India is poised to script a defining chapter in its space journey," said Singh. "Group Captain Shukla is to become the first Indian ever to visit the International Space Station and the first Indian astronaut to travel to space in over four decades after Rakesh Sharma's iconic 1984 flight aboard a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft."

The Ax-4 mission represents a significant milestone not only for India but also for Poland and Hungary, with each nation returning to human spaceflight after more than 40 years. While this marks the second human spaceflight mission in history for all three countries, it will be their first aboard the ISS.

Shukla, shortlisted under Isro's Human Spaceflight Programme (HSP), is among the top contenders for Gaganyaan—India's first indigenous crewed orbital flight.