(Image source from: x.com/SpaceX)

India has made a significant advancement in space exploration. Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, a pilot for the Indian Air Force, is currently aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, which launched on a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This is the same site where Neil Armstrong departed for the moon during Apollo 11 in 1969. Group Captain Shukla marks the second Indian astronaut to travel to space, forty years after Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma undertook his cosmic voyage as part of a Soviet mission in 1984. To maintain his health, the Indian Air Force pilot has undergone more than a month of quarantine. Alongside Group Captain Shukla, the crew comprises mission pilot Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland, Tibor Kapu from Hungary, and Commander Peggy Whitson from the United States. The four-person crew of the Axiom-4 Mission is en route to the International Space Station. Throughout their two-week mission, they will carry out 60 scientific experiments, including seven designed by Indian researchers. Group Captain Shukla is expected to communicate with a VIP from orbit.

The Axiom-4 launch faced several postponements due to unfavorable weather and technical issues. June 25 stands as the sixth rescheduled date announced by NASA. In a recent press engagement, Group Captain Shukla expressed, "I carry with me not just instruments and equipment, but the hopes and dreams of a billion hearts." Just hours before his monumental journey, he reached out to his family with a message stating, "Just wait for me, I’m coming." The Axiom-4 crew is set to dock at the International Space Station around 4:30 PM tomorrow, following an approximately 28-hour journey in orbit.