New Delhi: US space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will send India’s Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla to the International Space Station (ISS), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on Friday.
ISRO’S Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC) has entered into a Space Flight Agreement (SFA) with US-based Axiom Space for its upcoming Axiom-4 mission to the ISS with two Indians as prime and backup mission pilots.
Group Captain Shukla will be the primary mission pilot, while another Indian Air Force official, Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, will be the backup mission pilot.
Known as ‘Gaganyaatri’, training of the officers will begin next week.
The officials will undertake selected scientific research and technology demonstration experiments on board the ISS and also engage in space outreach activities during the space mission.
Born in Lucknow, Group Captain Shukla life in Indian Air Force started 18 years ago when he joined the prestigious National Defence Academy for military training.
His motivation to join the Armed forces came from brave Indian soldiers who sacrificed for the country to win the Kargil war. He was just 14 years old when war broke out in Kargil in 1999 as Pakistani intruders crossed the Line of Control (LoC) and encroached on Indian posts.
Last year, four test pilots from IAF were selected to train at ISRO’s Astronaut Training Facility in Bengaluru, for the Gaganyaan mission, an ambitious programme aimed to demonstrate India’s human spaceflight capability.
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