Indian Astronaut-Designate Shubhanshu Shukla To Fly To Space Station in May

Announcing a timeline for what will be a huge milestone in India's space journey, the Centre has said Gaganyatri, or astronaut-designate, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla will fly to the International Space Station next month. 

Union Minister for Space and Technology Dr Jitendra Singh said, "The International space mission carrying an Indian astronaut is scheduled for next month. India is poised to script a defining chapter in its space journey. An Indian astronaut is set for a historic space mission as ISRO charts bold new frontiers. India's space dreams are soaring higher with Gaganyaan preparations, ISS mission, and a summer of launches."

Group Captain Shukla, who has been training with NASA and the private space company Axiom Space for the past eight months, is flying to the ISS on a private commercial mission for which India has paid upwards of $60 million. The mission will be launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and the crew of four will be seated in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, which will lift off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA.

The Group Captain is 40 years old and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chose the youngest of its astronaut designates for this mission as he has a long career ahead of him.

The commander of the Axiom-4 (Ax-4) mission will be former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, who now works for Axiom Space. The other two crew members are Slawosz Uznanski from Poland, who is a European Space Agency astronaut and will be a mission specialist, and Hungary's Tibor Kapu, who will also have the same role. Group Captain Shukla will be the mission's pilot. 

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