What a ride! Shux from space as Axiom-4 Mission finally lifts off
BENGALURU: “Namaskar, to all my countrymen. What a ride! After 41 years, we are back in space and what a ride it has been.” These were the first words of Axiom-4 (Ax-4) mission pilot and the first Indian to go to space in 41 years, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla (nicknamed “Shux”), on Wednesday when the mission was finally launched at 12.01 pm IST from Launch Complex 39A of Kennedy Space Centre in Florida after six postponements since May 29.
Soon after giving a heads-up and clearing all parameters, the much-awaited commercial space mission by Axiom Space – in collaboration with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), and the European Space Agency (ESA) – was launched. The spacecraft is now scheduled to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, 28-and-half-hours after launch at around 4.30 pm IST.
After acclimatising with the environment in space, the Ax-4 mission’s four-member crew will carry out the listed 60 experiments, seven of which will be conducted by Shukla. Apart from Shukla, the other three crew members of the mission are mission commander Peggy Whitson from the USA, a former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space, and the two mission specialists, European Space Agency (ESA) project astronaut Sławosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.
Using the Amateur Radio on the ISS (ARISS), the astronauts will hold live classes and interactive sessions with students, experts and VIPs from ISS, as a part of their 14-day mission.
Shukla, second Indian in space after Sharma
Shukla is the second Indian in space after then Sqn Ldr Rakesh Sharma, who was a crew member of the Soyuz T-11 in April 1984, and will be the first Indian to pilot a spacecraft.
Shukla is carrying a “surprise” for Sharma to the ISS which will be known only later.
Before heading to his designated seat inside the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft attached at the top of the two-stage Falcon 9 launcher, Shukla listened to his favourite song, ‘Vande Mataram’, from the Bollywood movie Fighter, starring Hrithik Roshan, Anil Kapoor and Deepika Padukone. As a practice, before the astronauts head to the spacecraft for takeoff, they are given an opportunity to listen to their favourite music and say their farewells to their near and dear ones.
Soon after the launch, the four-member crew were seen cheering and shaking hands with each other and giving hi-fives. After the liftoff, Peggy revealed the name of the Dragon Spacecraft – “Meet Grace”. She was also seen releasing the soft toy – a swan named “Joy” – which the astronauts carried with them on the mission and was seen bobbing up and down in the zero-gravity environment.
Ten minutes after the launch, when the pilots were in the designated low-earth orbit, they changed out of their space suits and had their first meal in space before sending their health reports to the coordinating space stations.
Before reaching the ISS, the Dragon will orbit the earth and the astronauts will have at least three interactive checks with the base stations.
The live streaming of the launch caught the attention of and raised cheers among netizens as the mission had been postponed several times. The four astronauts had been in a four-week quarantine since May 25, which was the longest for any modern space missions.