New Delhi:
India and the US are using the upcoming NASA-ISRO joint flight of an Indian astronaut to space as a big outreach activity between the world’s oldest and world’s largest democracies.
A mission readiness review is planned for Wednesday which could figure out the final launch date – currently June 8, 2025.
For the upcoming Indian astronaut mission to the International Space Station, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla will be part of two very special global outreach activities that could include live interaction with students in India.
In addition, it has also been revealed that Shux — the call sign for Group Captain Shukla — will also undertake five special human biology experiments which will be conducted jointly by NASA and ISRO to further the understanding of human biology in space.
This is a welcome addition. Till now, India’s science experiments looked very thin compared to the total of 60 experiments to be undertaken in the fortnight long mission.
Group Captain Shukla was already slated to conduct seven India-specific experiments which includes researching how algae can be used as food; growing seeds in space and how human eyes respond microgravity.
Now, in his 14-day mission, Group Captain Shukla will also subject his own body to some human biology experiments.
Incidentally it was earlier revealed that no research on yoga will be conducted as part of this Shux mission.
On the outreach plans, Dana Weigel, Manager, International Space Station Program, NASA, said, “We will have ISRO participating, and then we will have members of space agency leadership with an interactive kind of discussion there. And then for the STEM outreach, we do have a couple activities that we are planning together,” he said.
This would include downlink from ISS to Earth.
Adding to this, Mr Sudesh Balan, Project Director for ISRO, said: “There is a student event. Our astronaut will be directly interacting with the student community. So two such events we are planning across the country”.
Live events between astronauts in space and audiences on terra firma are a great attraction.
At Tuesday’s mission overview press conference it was not revealed if Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla while he is in space.
There is huge anticipation for that possible Modi-Shux dialogue.
In 1984, the live event between Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Astronaut Rakesh Sharma while he was onboard the Russian space station created a sensation. On being asked how India looked from space, Rakesh Sharma had said “Saare Jahan se achha”.
Group Captain Shukla’s travel to space comes four decades after Rakesh Sharma’s iconic spaceflight on board Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft in 1984.
Group Captain Shukla is scheduled to pilot the Axiom Mission 4, which is a private astronaut mission that will launch aboard a completely new never before flown SpaceX Dragon capsule, which the Axiom-4 crew will actually christen. The crew will fly from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a Falcon 9 rocket, which will be on its second flight. So the spanking new Dragon capsule and used Falcon-9 rocket will help propel the Axiom-4 crew.
The mission, which is jointly being undertaken by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and ISRO, will be a historic event for India as Group Captain Shukla’s mission will feed into the country’s own human space flight program the Gaganyaan mission.
Group Captain Shukla will be accompanied by Peggy Whitson, a former and legendary NASA astronaut and mission commander, Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary.
Once docked, the astronauts are scheduled to spend upto 14 days aboard the orbiting laboratory, conducting a mission comprising science, outreach and commercial activities.
Group Captain Shukla serves as the astronaut designate and Mission Pilot.
A decorated test pilot with the IAF, he was shortlisted under ISRO’s Human Spaceflight Program and is among the top contenders for the Gaganyaan mission, India’s first indigenous crewed orbital flight.
His journey aboard the Axiom Mission 4 is expected to provide critical hands-on experience in spaceflight operations, launch protocols, microgravity adaptation, and emergency preparedness — all essential for India’s crewed space ambitions.
“The crew are insured,” says Allen Flynt, Chief of Mission Services, Axiom Space. “We do carry insurance for a variety of reasons for the mission and the entire scope of that. Relative to the specifics of the cost of that and what is insured and things of that nature, those are details that we are not able to publicly disclose”.
According to ISRO Chairman Dr V Narayanan, the mission, which will lift off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, will cost Rs 550 crores.
