Reaching For The Stars: 2nd Indian Heads To Space As Mission Lifts Off Today
- The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft flying on a Falcon-9 rocket will lift off from the Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida -- the spot from where Neil Armstrong had set off for the moon on Apollo 11 in 1969.
- Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla will be India's second astronaut going into space -- nearly four decades after Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma made history in 1984.
- The 39-year-old fighter pilot was chosen by ISRO as the prime astronaut for this historic flight.
- He has been in precautionary quarantine for more than a month before the lift-off, a process meant to ensure the crew remains healthy.
- On the fortnight-long mission, the four-member crew of Axiom-4 Mission will conduct 60 scientific experiments, seven of which have been proposed by Indian researchers.
- Group Captain Shukla will participate in a space-to-Earth outreach programme and interact with a VIP from space. Seven crew members are already at the ISS.
- There have been multiple delays for Axiom-4 since the first launch date, May 29, was announced. The delays were linked to varied issues including weather and technical glitches including a leak of oxidizer. June 25 is the sixth date announced by the US space agency NASA.
- The fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, Axiom-4 mission, is operated by Houston-based Axiom Space in partnership with NASA.
- The Indo-US Axiom-4 mission, sometimes referred to as Mission Akash Ganga, was born out of the India-USA joint statement during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's state visit to the United States in June 2023.
- The agreement envisioned a collaborative effort between ISRO and NASA to send an Indian astronaut to the ISS, marking a new chapter in Indo-US space cooperation.
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