Worthy cheer: Shubhanshu Shukla, Axiom-4 on Mission

June 25, 2025 (IST), India afternoon Shubhanshu Shukla participated with three other astronauts From NASA’s Florida Spaceport to International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Axiom-4 commercial mission. This is the first time an Indian orbital has gone to space. Rakesh Sharma in 1984If the Dragon Crew Capsule successfully dockes with the ISS on 26 June, Mr. Shukla will also be built on the first Indian ship of ISS. In the next two weeks, he and the ISS Crew will suit the experiments conducted by the Axiom-4 mission, including the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). Mr. Shukla is one of the major candidates flying in the Human Space Flight Mission of India, Gaganan, currently slapped to 2027For now, the Space Department has not clarified the reasons for spending of 548 crores to buy Shri Shukla’s seat on Axiom-4. Against the backdrop of a budget of Rs 20,200-crores of for Gaganian, Mr. Shukla’s flying for ISS, advanced training and back-up was packed with Crimete Prasanth Nair, will provide India considerable insight into human space flight and how it is coordinated in front of its own inter-state campaigns. However, it does not leave space and ISRO from communicating the justification and range of these benefits, which has not happened yet.

The space flight between the flights of Mr. Sharma and Shri Shukla has changed significantly: bets are multidimensional and more demand today. AXIOM is a private unit contracted with NASA and SpaceX, and which sells seats to ISS for commercial missions. But NASA’s uncertainty for the Dragon crew capsules after Alone Musk’s spat with US President Donald Trump. The impact of Mr. Trump’s tariff and his desire to honor Biden’s commitments to India, given the proposed budget cut for 2026, is also not clear. And the ISS is to be decorated by 2030. In this world, the future of India’s own space program is caught between several futures. NASA and private American companies including Blue Origin have said that they want to use Gaganian technologies in future missions as part of strengthening US-India relations in the space sector. But even when the country balances commercial with public sector needs, it needs to remain a relevant provider of space flight services. The Government of India has indicated that it is ready to take positive steps to increase the private sector, but thus, which is still inadequate. Thus, once Mr. Shukla returns, ISRO’s two-do list will proceed to the next major challenge, even on its public expectations, including transparent communication.