“Namaskar, my dear countrymen!” proclaimed Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla about 10 minutes into liftoff aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. “We’ve reached space after 41 years. We’re orbiting Earth at roughly 7.5 km/s, and I have the Indian tricolour on my shoulder. TRicolour tells me I’m with you all.This isn’t just the start of my journey to the ISS, but also the beginning of India’s human spaceflight era. I want each one of you to be part of this journey, let us embark on India’s human space programme together.”Shukla is journeying as pilot on the Axiom‑4 mission, making him the second Indian in space, but the first to visit the International Space StatioN, since Rakesh Sharma’s flight in 1984.The much-delayed Axiom-4 mission blasted off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida at 12:01 pm IST towards the ISS amid cheers from watch parties organised across the world, including at Shukla’s City Montessori School in Lucknow where his parents witnessed the historic launch.
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