Indian Astronaut Will Pilot Mission To International Space Station: Axiom Space

Pearly Pandya, Director, International Government Business at Axiom Space, spoke exclusively to NDTV. Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla will travel to the International Space Station as part of the Axiom-4 mission.

The ISRO-NASA joint astronaut mission, which will see an Indian travelling to the International Space Station for the first time, is expected to launch between April and June next year and the US-based company facilitating this, Axiom Space, hopes to see Indian rockets used in such missions in the future, a senior official from the company has said. 

Speaking exclusively to NDTV, Pearly Pandya, Director, International Government Business at Axiom Space, who is an Indian-American and was born in Ahmedabad, said the Chandrayaan-3 mission showed that India is emerging as a space superpower. She also shared details of the Axiom-4 mission, under which Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla will become only the second Indian astronaut in space after Rakesh Sharma in 1984. 

Ms Pandya said Shubhanshu Shukla will be the pilot for the mission that will take the team led by America's most experienced astronaut, 64-year-old Dr Peggy Annette Whitson, to the International Space Station. Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, who is the backup for Group Captain Shukla, is also undergoing the same training, conducted by Axiom Space.  

"As an Indian-American, this mission has the ability to bridge two of my worlds but the Indian diaspora internationally as well. People are very excited to see India embark on its first mission on the International Space Station (ISS) and it is very exciting for us to have Group Captains Shukla and Nair training with us, it feels very surreal. Their training is going very well. They are learning a lot, they have to learn all the requirements of NASA but are also learning about operations on the ISS from the European Space Agency (ESA) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) side," she said.