Athira Sethu
Kochi, 25 June 2025
Shubhanshu Shukla, who is a Group Captain with the Indian Air Force (IAF), is set to make history. He is among the four astronauts on the Axiom-4 space mission. The flight is set to take off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, on the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Upon launch, Shukla will be the second Indian to fly into space after Rakesh Sharma, who flew in 1984.
Shukla is an exceptionally well-trained pilot and combat commander. He has well over 2,000 flying hours in various fighter jets such as the Su-30 MKI, MiG-21, MiG-29, Jaguar, and Hawk. His leadership and expertise made him a Group Captain in March 2024.
His Journey So Far
Shubhanshu Shukla was born on 10 October 1985 in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. He is proficient in both Hindi and English. He completed training at the National Defence Academy in 2005 and graduated with a degree in Computer Science. He became a fighter pilot after joining the IAF in 2006.
In 2019, he was picked by ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) for astronaut training. He was among the four astronauts picked by the Institute of Aerospace Medicine. Subsequently, he underwent training for a year at the renowned Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Russia.
The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, last year made public introduction of Shukla as one of the astronauts training for India’s first human spaceflight mission, Gaganyaan.
Axiom-4 Mission
The Axiom-4 mission will feature astronauts representing various nations. The mission will see around 60 scientific experiments from 31 nations, including India, the US, Poland, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, and a few European countries.
Shukla’s co-workers and commanders sing his praises for quick thinking and technical prowess. Former NASA astronaut and Axiom-4 commander Peggy Whitson described him as an asset to the team.
This mission is a major leap forward for India’s contribution to space exploration. It establishes the increasing presence of Indian astronauts in international space missions and generates enthusiasm for India’s upcoming Gaganyaan mission.
