Brief by Shorts91 Newsdesk / 01:05pm on 08 Jun 2025,Sunday Science
Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, a 15-year IAF combat and test pilot, has been hailed by his Axiom‑4 crewmates as “wicked smart” and “operational savvy” in spacecraft technology, with Polish astronaut Sławosz Uznański‑Wiśniewski noting he’s “very focused… goes one, two, three, four in record time,” and Hungarian Tibor Kapu saying “his knowledge… shows he could be 130 years old” . Shukla, born in Lucknow and selected in 2020 for ISRO’s Gaganyaan, will pilot the Ax‑4 mission launching from NASA’s KSC on June 10, with docking at the ISS expected June 11 after a ~28-hour journey aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon . He’ll conduct seven ISRO-DBT experiments—like sprouting methi/moong—and five NASA studies during a 14-day stay, marking India’s first ISS mission and second-ever human spaceflight since Rakesh Sharma in 1984. (PC: NasaSpaceOps)
