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Axiom 4 Mission Launch Updates: The Axiom-4 Mission, which included India’s Shubhanshu Shukla and three other astronauts, launched into space on Wednesday at midday, beginning a 28-hour journey to the International Space Station.
Shukla became the second Indian to visit space, more than 40 years after Rakesh Sharma went on a Soviet mission in 1984. Two other astronauts on the trip, Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary, are also marking the return of their respective countries to space after more than 40 years.
“This is not the beginning of my flight. This is the beginning of India’s human spaceflight efforts. I am with you all. You all can participate in this flight and feel the energy, and become a part of this mission,” Shukla said from the spacecraft, ten minutes after the launch after the spacecraft had got into an orbit around the Earth.
The mission, which had been delayed many times due to weather and technical concerns, launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida. It will reach the International Space Station (ISS) about 4.30 p.m. India time on Thursday. Shukla is the first Indian to visit the ISS, a permanent research complex in space that orbits the Earth at a height of 400 kilometers.
The lift-off was met with loud cheering and clapping in the auditorium of the CSIR headquarters in New Delhi, where Science Minister Jitendra Singh and many other scientists and dignitaries, including Australian High Commissioner to India Philip Green, had assembled to watch the launch live on video.
Source: IE
