Shubhanshu Shukla Steps Inside The International Space Station, Welcomed With Big Hugs | WATCH | India News
In an instant of general delight and relief, Indian Air Force Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and his fellow three Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) crew members formally entered the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, being greeted warmly and cheerfully by the resident Expedition 73 crew. The historic hatch opening came after their successful soft docking of their SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, “Grace,” at 4:01 PM IST in orbit above the North Atlantic Ocean.
WATCH | #AxiomMission4 crew – Mission Commander Peggy Whitson (US), Mission pilot #ShubhanshuShukla (India) and Mission Specialists Tibor Kapu (Hungary) and Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski (Poland) enters the International Space Station (ISS).
(Video: NASA via Reuters) pic.twitter.com/rIEHgdu277
— ANI (@ANI) June 26, 2025
NASA confirmed that the successful docking was effected in a statement where they wrote, “At 6:31 am EDT (4:01 IST) on Thursday, the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docked to the International Space Station for the fourth private astronaut mission to the orbiting laboratory, Axiom Mission 4.”
After the first “soft docking,” a delicate “hard-mating” operation followed, in which 12 sets of hooks firmly mated the Dragon capsule to the ISS and made possible critical communications and power connections. The complex hatch-opening maneuvers, which involved pressure equalization and leak testing, took about two hours to perform before astronauts were able to enter the station.
Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla’s foray into the ISS makes him the second Indian to venture into space, preceded only by Cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma’s trailblazing flight in 1984. This flight is especially noteworthy as Shukla is the first Indian to journey into the International Space Station and the first to be part of an operational crew as a pilot on a commercial flight.
Aboard the Axiom-4 mission, in addition to Feather, is Commander Peggy Whitson (USA), a veteran NASA astronaut; Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, the second Pole on an astronaut mission since 1978; and Tibor Kapu, the second Hungarian to make a flight to space following a 45-year break. The international crew departed NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Wednesday.
Ahead of his journey, Shukla had shared his thoughts on adapting to microgravity, describing it as “like learning to live again, like a baby,” and expressing his awe at the “amazing” experience of floating. His mission, alongside those of his Polish and Hungarian counterparts, represents a significant return to human spaceflight for their respective nations after over four decades, showcasing a growing international collaborative effort in space exploration.
