New Delhi: Indian Air Force (IAF) group captain Shubhanshu Shukla, who has been described as “wicked smart” and a “tech genius”, is hours away from blasting off to space for his 14-day Axiom-4 Mission.
“For me to have Shux as my pilot in the Dragon capsule is great. He already has that operational savvy approach. He is wicked smart when it comes to spacecraft technologies,” US-based Peggy Whitson, the mission commander, said in Shukla’s mission profile video, released Sunday, using the call sign for her Indian colleague.
The 39-year-old is the pilot for the upcoming Axiom-4 Mission, which will fly to the International Space Station (ISS) on 10 June at 5:52 pm IST. The launch will take place from the NASA Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
ThePrint explains the specific tasks that Shukla will perform during his stay at the ISS as well as the details and significance of the scientific experiments he will lead on behalf of India.
Trained combat leader
The Axiom-4 Mission will fly in Elon Musk’s SpaceX capsule—the brand-new Crew Dragon C213, which will also take its first flight. The capsule will be fitted on top of the Falcon 9 rocket.
As a mission pilot, his role will be critical during the launch, orbital insertion, docking and undocking at the ISS, and re-entry and landing of the spacecraft.
Over the last few months, Shukla has been trained on the Crew Dragon capsule’s manual control systems. While the Crew Dragon is largely automated, a pilot is required to be trained in taking manual control of the systems in case of a software glitch.
During the mission, he will also be responsible for coordinating communication with the mission control teams on Earth.
His team is confidently placing their trust in Shukla for the mission.
Speaking in the mission profile video, mission specialist Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski from Poland said, “I am in awe of how fast he goes from stage one to four. He does it in record time. He is crazy fast.”
His other colleague from Hungary, mission specialist Tibor Kapu, is sure that Shukla is 130 years old.
“His wisdom and knowledge are unmatched,” Kapu said in Shukla’s mission profile video.
Shukla, a group captain with the IAF, has already undergone training for the Indian human spaceflight, Gaganyaan, which is expected to take flight in the first half of 2027.
He is also a trained combat leader and seasoned test pilot, with over 2,000 hours of flight experience in various aircraft, including the Su-30 MKI, MiG-21, MiG-29, Jaguar, Hawk, Dornier, and An-32.
In India, he is the youngest of the four astronaut-designates, who are training for Gaganyaan. After being selected for India’s first human spaceflight in 2019, Shukla has been training at Russia’s Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Star City, Moscow, and at Bengaluru’s Astronaut Training Centre.
Microgravity experiments
On the ISS, for India, Shukla will be leading microgravity experiments for around seven top research institutes, including the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc).
One of the primary studies being sent on the mission is to study the impact of microgravity radiation on edible microalgae at the station.
Researchers from ICGEB, who have developed the experiment, said that microalgae are the perfect specimen of microorganisms for undertaking space studies during long flights because of their ability to grow food sustainably.
The experiment will assess how space conditions impact the growth patterns and genetic activity of the samples. It will also study whether these microorganisms can be a potential option for space food in future missions.
The ICGEB has also designed another experiment to study cyanobacteria’s comparative growth and proteomics (study of all proteins expressed by a genome) responses when using urea versus nitrate in microgravity.
Indian scientists are also developing nutrition options for prolonged space missions. To explore possible options for future missions, the University of Agricultural Sciences in Dharwad will investigate the sprouting of salad seeds in space.
Bengaluru’s IISc, which has been spearheading India’s space experiments, has developed two unique tests—one, to analyse human interactions with electronic displays in microgravity and the other to study the growth and survival of microscopic animals or microfauna, and eutardigrade paramacrobiotus or water bears.
Along with this, the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) and the College of Agriculture, Kerala Agricultural University, will send samples on board the mission to study the impact of microgravity on growth and yield parameters in food crop seeds.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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