Experienced test pilot of the Indian Air Force and one of ISRO's selected astronauts for the Gaganyaan Mission, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla will be the lead mission pilot for Axiom Mission-4. This mission will launch on SpaceX's Falcon-9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft. The launch will take place from Florida.
Shubhanshu Shukla was recently chosen as a 'prime' astronaut for ISRO's Gaganyaan Mission. He will be the second Indian to journey into space since 1984. His journey began with a commission into the fighter wing in June 2006.
As an experienced test pilot, he has accumulated over 2000 hours of flying experience in various aircraft. Group Captain Shukla, along with three others, will journey to the International Space Station (ISS). Accompanying him are Commander Peggy Whitson from the USA, ESA mission specialist Slawos Ujansky from Poland, and mission specialist Tibor Kapu from Hungary. Shukla will serve as the prime mission pilot.
Source: aajtak
Born on October 10, 1985, in Lucknow, Shubhanshu's military training was completed at NDA. He joined the Air Force's fighter stream on June 17, 2006. A fighter combat leader and test pilot, he possesses flight experience in Su-30MKI, MiG-21, MiG-29, Jaguar, Hawk, Dornier, and AN-32 aircraft and fighter jets.
A call from ISRO in 2019 was historic for Shukla. He began rigorous training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Moscow, Russia. On February 27, 2024, PM Narendra Modi declared Shukla as the astronaut for the Gaganyaan Mission. In August 2024, Shukla was named as the 'prime' astronaut for an upcoming Indo-US mission to the International Space Station.
