New Delhi: Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla is now slated to start for the International Space Station (ISS) on June 10. The launch was to take place on May 29, but was deferred to June 8. It has now been pushed back further to June 10.
The question that is doing the rounds now is whether Gp Capt Shukla will speak to the Indian Prime Minister from space as his predecessor Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma did 41 years ago. He was the first Indian to travel to space on board the Soviet space capsule Soyuz T-11.
Sharma had spoken to then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from space. After the PM asked how India looks from space, Sharma had replied: “Saare Jahan Se Achha (Better than anything else in this World).”
Gp Capt Shukla has indicated that he is slated to interact with a VIP, students, educators and academia from space. He did not name the VIP though. He will be the first Indian to travel to the ISS.
Shukla will be the pilot of the mission. He, along with other members of the crew are now undergoing their mandatory pre-flight quarantine. It has been informed that Axiom Space’s Ax-4 programme – that is to take Shukla and the others to the ISS – has been deferred till June 10 due to operational adjustments and ongoing quarantine protocols.
The Ax-4 crew includes mission commander Peggy Whitson, a veteran NASA astronaut, and specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary, both embarking on their countries’ first flights to the ISS.
The crew entered a two-week pre-launch quarantine at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 25. This “health stabilisation” protocol is a standard safety measure for all human spaceflight missions, designed to ensure astronauts are free from infectious diseases that could jeopardize the mission or endanger the ISS crew.
The astronauts are kept in a controlled environment, with strict hygiene measures, daily health monitoring, and limited contact with outsiders. This process is crucial, as the ISS is a closed system where even minor illnesses can have serious consequences.
