Meet Shubhanshu Shukla, the ISRO astronaut to pilot NASA’s private Axiom Mission 4 to ISS

ISRO astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla will serve as a pilot on the Axiom Mission 4 to the International Space Station (ISS).This fourth private astronaut mission will be launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, no earlier than spring 2025. On Wednesday, NASA said that it is ‘expeditiously working’ along with SpaceX to safely bring astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who are stuck in the International Space Station (ISS) for several months.

Meet the #Ax4 crew.

???????? Commander Peggy Whitson

???????? Mission Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla of #India

???????? Mission Specialist Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of ESA/#Poland

???????? Mission Specialist Tibor Kapu of #Hungary pic.twitter.com/Jjx8ERGqFf— Axiom Space (@Axiom_Space) January 30, 2025

Who is Shubhanshu Shukla?

Born on October 10, 1985, in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, Shubhanshu Shukla is a distinguished pilot in the Indian Air Force. He completed his schooling at City Montessori School in Lucknow and graduated from the National Defence Academy (NDA), which prepares officers for the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force.

In June 2006, he was commissioned into the IAF fighter wing, marking the beginning of his journey. As a combat leader and experienced test pilot, Shukla has an astounding 2,000 hours of flight experience on various aircraft, including the Su-30 MKI, MiG-21, MiG-29, Jaguar, Hawk, Dornier and An-32. He was then promoted to the rank of group captain in March 2024.

In 2019, Shukla received a call from ISRO. He began rigorous training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Moscow, Russia. On February 27, 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced Shukla as one of the elite astronauts undergoing extensive training for India’s maiden human spaceflight mission, Gaganyaan, which is expected to launch in 2025.
Shukla is now preparing to pilot the historic Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) to the International Space Station. He will become the first Indian astronaut to visit the orbiting laboratory aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.

Earlier, Shukla, in an online press conference, said, “I am really, really excited to go into microgravity and experience spaceflight on my own. The tempo for the mission has been building up each month and I think we are at a stage where all the pieces are kind of coming together.”

Apart from Shukla, the other astronauts on the mission are Commander Peggy Whitson, Mission Specialist Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski and Mission Specialist Tibor Kapu.

Whitson, America’s most experienced astronaut, served as commander on the Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2). She has more than 38 years of space and science experience with NASA.

Sławosz is a scientist and engineer making significant contributions to the fields of science and space exploration. He made significant contributions to the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva.

Kapu is a mission specialist for Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4). He emerged as one of four Hungarians selected from a pool of 247 candidates for the Hungarian to Orbit (HUNOR) Astronaut Program in 2023.