Ahead of his historic journey to the International Space Station (ISS), Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla has termed the preparations for the Axiom-4 mission an “amazing journey” and that he was extraordinarily fortunate to be part of one thing that’s “much larger than yourself”.
The 39-year-old Indian Air Force pilot is all set to journey with three different crew members to the ISS onboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, mounted on a Falcon 9 rocket, that can carry off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Tuesday (June 10, 2025) at 5:52 p.m. IST.
Mr. Shukla, who goes by the nickname “Shux”, will be the second Indian to journey to space, 41 years after his idol Rakesh Sharma undertook a spaceflight in 1984 onboard the erstwhile Soviet Union’s Soyuz spacecraft for an eight-day keep in orbit.
“It has been an amazing journey; these are the moments that really tell you that you are getting to be a part of something that is much larger than yourself. I can only say how extremely fortunate I am to be a part of this,” Lucknow-born Mr. Shukla stated in a brief video issued by Axiom Space ahead of Tuesday’s (June 10, 2025) launch.
Mr. Shukla’s crewmates, Commander Peggy Whitson and mission specialists Tibor Kapu from Hungary and Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland, describe him as “operational-savvy”, “focused” and “wicked smart” when it comes to space applied sciences.
“Shux’s wisdom, the knowledge he possesses, shows he could be 130-years-old,” stated Mr. Kapu, the second Hungarian astronaut to journey to space since 1980.
“For me, having him as my pilot in the dragon capsule is great. He is already operational-savvy and he is just wicked smart when it comes to spacecraft technologies,” stated Mr. Whitson, a veteran U.S. astronaut who has spent 675 days in space and undertaken 10 spacewalks.
Mr. Slawosz stated Mr. Shukla may be very focussed in his method and fast to reply to conditions.
“He is very focused. He will go one, two, three, four in record time. I don’t even know how he gets there so fast,” the Polish astronaut stated.
āA fantastic squadā
Mr. Shukla heaped excessive reward on his crewmates, describing them as a “fantastic” squad, saying they’d be his “friends for life”.
SpaceX’s Falcon-9 rocket and the Dragon space capsule have been rolled out to the launchpad 39A on the KSC in Florida on Saturday (June 7, 2025). The Axiom-4 (or Ax-4) crew checked on the spacecraft that they may journey into the ISS.
“Launch is targeted for 8.22 a.m. ET, with a backup opportunity available on Wednesday (June 11, 2025), at 8 a.m. ET,” SpaceX introduced in an replace in regards to the mission.
The Axiom Space video additionally showcases Mr. Shukla’s journey from being a toddler to turning into an astronaut and being chosen for the bold space mission.
“This journey that I am on…it has been a long one for me. It started out somewhere, I didn’t know that this is the path it is going to finally take,” Mr. Shukla stated.
“I would say that I am extremely fortunate and extremely lucky to have had opportunities to first fly all my life, which is a dream job for me, and then to have the opportunity to apply for the astronaut corps, and now be here,” he stated.
Mr. Shukla stated that, like his idol Rakesh Sharma, he would additionally like to encourage the following technology to take up space science as a profession and attempt to grow to be an astronaut.
Published – June 08, 2025 10:05 pm IST
