Gp Capt Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair to serve as his backup
Experienced Indian Air Force (IAF) test pilot Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla is set to become the second Indian gaganyatri (astronaut), after then Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma in 1984, to venture into space. He will be part of the India-United States Axiom-4 mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
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Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has announced that Gp Capt Shukla has been selected as the prime gaganyatri for the mission, with Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair serving as his backup.
This mission is a collaborative effort between ISRO, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the US, and Axiom Space, a US-based space-infrastructure developer.
Gp Capt Shukla follows then Squadron Leader (later Wing Commander) Rakesh Sharma, who made history in 1984 by becoming the first Indian to travel to space as a part of the crew of the erstwhile Soviet Union’s Soyuz T-11 spacecraft.
“After touching the sky with glory, it’s time for the #IAF to touch space with glory. Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair are chosen for the upcoming Indo-US Axiom-4 mission to the ISS. The prime astronaut, Group Captain Shukla, is an experienced Test Pilot with 2000 hrs of flying,” IAF posted on its X handle.
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In his accumulated 2,000 hours of flying, Gp Capt Shukla as flown various aircraft, including Sukhoi-30MKI, MiG-21, MiG-29, Jaguar, Hawk, Dornier-228, An-32, among others.
Gp Capt Shukla and Gp Capt Nair are among the four IAF pilots, whose names were announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier in 2024 for India’s first human spaceflight mission Gaganyaan set to launch next year. Apart from Shukla and Balakrishnan, PM Modi announced the name of Group Kaptan Ajit Krishnan and Group Captain Angad Pratap.
Through the Gaganyaan mission, ISRO aims to demonstrate India’s human-spaceflight capability by launching a crew of three members to an orbit of 400 kilometres for a three-day space trip.
The Axiom 4 mission, scheduled for launch in October 2024, will be a 14-day private spaceflight to the ISS, operated by Axiom Space and supported by SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. The mission will launch from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida aboard a Space X’s Falcon 9 rocket. The Axiom-4 mission will be the fourth private astronaut mission to the ISS.
