Florida: Indian astronaut Shubanshu Shukla is in the final stages of preparation for his maiden voyage to the International Space Station. He is set to create history by becoming the second Indian to launch into space after 41 years after Rakesh Sharma.
Shubanshu Shukla has completed the final launch rehearsal for the space mission. Shubanshu Shukla will be accompanied by mission commander Peggy Whitson, Tibor Kapu of Hungary and Sławosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland.
The Axium-4 crew, led by veteran astronaut Peggy Whitson, wears SpaceX flight suits and prepares for the space shuttle launch as it leaves the assembly building. The Falcon-9 Dragon spacecraft will blast off from the International Space Station tomorrow at 5:54 PM IST.
The four astronauts from the US, India, Poland and Hungary will spend 14 days at the space station.
Sharing information about this, Shubanshu Shukla said that the preparation for the Axium-4 mission is complete and he is very lucky to be a part of an “amazing journey” that is “bigger than you”.
This is the first flight of the Dragon spacecraft supporting the mission. He shared that he is very excited and eager to go to space and has been training for a long time.
NASA said the four astronauts on the space station tour will conduct more than 60 scientific experiments and demonstrations focused on human exploration, Earth observation and life, biological and materials sciences.
Shukla, nicknamed “Shux,” is the second Indian to travel to space. Shukla is making his spacewalk 41 years after Rakesh Sharma flew in orbit for eight days in 1984 aboard the former Soviet Union’s Soyuz spacecraft.