TALLAHASSEE, June 26: Indian Air Force Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla became the first Indian astronaut at the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday as SpaceX’s Dragon capsule Grace carrying a four-member international crew completed docking with the space-facing port of the space station’s Harmony module.

“Grace is happy to be on Harmony,” said commander Peggy Whitson, nearly 28 hours after the private Axiom-4 (Ax-4) mission lifted off to space.

Grace was ahead of schedule. It was earlier scheduled to achieve soft docking at 4.30pm (IST), which was accomplished at 4.02pm (IST) before completing the overall docking procedure.

After docking, it took two hours before the Dragon hatch was opened. The crew were then welcomed by Expedition 73 on ISS.

The Ax-4 crew comprising Whitson, Shukla representing the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland, and Tibor Kapu of Hungary lifted off at 12:01pm (IST) on Wednesday, on the SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

On ISS, Shukla will undertake seven homegrown microgravity experiments proposed by various national R&D laboratories and academic institutions, ranging from studying the impact of microgravity radiation in the ISS on edible microalgae, sprouting salad seeds in space, analysing human interaction with electronic displays in microgravity to impact of microgravity on growth and yield parameters in food crop seeds. Additionally, he will also undertake five Isro-NASA collaborative experiments.

During the 14-day mission, the Ax-4 crew is set to conduct 60 science experiments representing 31 countries, including the US, India, Poland, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Nigeria, UAE, and nations across Europe. Axiom Space said this is the largest quantity of research that will be undertaken on any Axiom mission.

Axiom-4 Mission with India’s Shubhanshu Shukla, 3 others lifts off from Florida

TALLAHASSEE, June 25: The Axiom-4 Mission, with India’s Shubhanshu Shukla and three other astronauts on board, roared into space at noon on Wednesday, beginning a 28-hour journey to the International Space Station.

In the process, Shukla became the second Indian to travel to space, more than 40 years after Rakesh Sharma travelled on a Soviet mission in 1984. Two other astronauts on the mission, Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary, are also marking the return of their respective countries to space after more than four decades.

“This is not the beginning of my flight. This is the beginning of India’s human spaceflight efforts. I am with you all. You all can participate in this flight and feel the energy, and become a part of this mission,” Shukla said from the spacecraft, ten minutes after the launch after the spacecraft had got into an orbit around the Earth.

The mission, which had faced multiple delays because of weather and technical issues, took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. It will reach the International Space Station (ISS) about 4.30 pm India time on Thursday. Shukla is the first Indian to travel to the ISS, which is a permanent research facility in space, orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 400 km.

The lift-off was cheered with loud cheers and clapping at the auditorium of the CSIR headquarters in New Delhi where Science Minister Jitendra Singh and many other scientists and dignitaries, including Australian High Commissioner to India Philip Green, had gathered to watch the launch on video.

Indian Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla's Space Flight Postponed To June 10

FLORIDA, June 3: Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla will have to wait longer for his journey to space.

The lift-off for the Axiom-4 mission has been postponed by two days and will now take place at 5.52 PM (India time) on June 10. This was announced by Axiom Space on Tuesday.

Group Captain Shukla is currently in the pre-launch mandatory quarantine at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to assess his health, and he is healthy and fit to fly.

The launch was earlier scheduled for liftoff 'no earlier than' June 8, 2025, at 6.41 pm, and this is the second postponement of this mission, which is a landmark NASA-ISRO collaboration. The reason for the delay is unclear at the moment.

The first postponement from the original date of May 29 took place as the SpaceX Dragon crew module developed some glitches. Space flights involving humans are always undertaken only when all systems are fully ready, and delays are not uncommon.

Incidentally, unlike the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which gives exact dates and times for the liftoff of its rockets, NASA uses the safe phraseology of 'no earlier than ...', giving itself some leeway.

Group Captain Shukla is scheduled to pilot the Axiom-4 mission, a private astronaut mission that will launch aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. In a statement, Axiom Space said, "the launch of the Axiom-4 crew will take place from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida".

His travel to space comes four decades after Rakesh Sharma's iconic spaceflight on board Russia's Soyuz spacecraft in 1984, making it a historic mission for India. It is also important as it will help with India's space flight programme and the Gaganyaan mission.

Group Captain Shukla will be accompanied by Peggy Whitson - a former NASA astronaut and mission commander - Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary. Once docked, the astronauts are scheduled to spend up to 14 days aboard the orbiting laboratory, conducting science, outreach and commercial activities.

Starlink Close To Getting India Licence: Scindia

NEW DELHI, June 3: India is moving steadily towards allowing satellite internet providers such as Elon Musk’s Starlink to operate in the country, said Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.

“We are eager to have that auction in India for our customers as soon as possible,” Scindia said. He added that the telecom ministry is “company agnostic and customer centric” in its approach.

Starlink has recently secured a Letter of Intent from the Department of Telecommunications, a key milestone before full licensing, according to people familiar with the matter. The DoT is optimistic about issuing Starlink full licence by mid-June, provided the company accepts all terms unconditionally.

Scindia highlighted that other players like OneWeb and Reliance already hold Satcom licences, and Starlink is “very close” to receiving theirs. “All players will have to get their approval from IN-SPACe in the second stage,” he explained, referring to the government’s agency for space sector regulation.

ISRO Rocket Fails 7 Minutes Into Flight

SRIHARIKOTA, May 24: ISRO could not accomplish the launch of a key Earth observation satellite on Sunday after the rocket carrying it, the workhorse PSLV-C61, failed mid-air, less than seven minutes after it took off.

Determined to find the root cause of the failure, the space agency has set up a National Failure Analysis Committee and a complete audit of the rocket is underway, with all systems being reviewed thoroughly.

The committee, more than half of whose members are from premier institutions like the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), is expected to submit its report around the middle of next month. A set of voluminous data has already been shared with the panel.

ISRO has also set up several internal committees to scrutinise every aspect of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), which is a highly dependable rocket, with a reliability of over 94% and just four failures in 63 launches - an enviable track record.

Sources in the space agency said only the PSLV, and no other rocket, has been put on hold since its third stage uses a solid fuel motor, which is unique to it. The final call, they indicated, will be taken on future launches only after the National Failure Analysis Committee submits its report and ISRO fixes the problem.

Giving an analogy, an expert said each rocket is like a child. "If one child falls down, can you ask the entire village to stop walking?" he quipped.

A notice to airmen (or NOTAM), has, meanwhile, already been issued for the launch of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-2 or GSLV F-16 to fly between June 18 and July 17. The rocket, initially dubbed 'ISRO's naughty boy' and eventually tamed, is all set to fly the world's most expensive civilian Earth imaging satellite, named the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar Satellite or NISAR. It has been built by India and the US at a cost of $1.5 billion.