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Shubhanshu Shukla reaches International Space Station as Dragon spacecraft docks successfully

The spacecraft achieved a smooth docking—known as a soft capture—with the ISS on Thursday.

Axiom-4 Mission's Dragon spacecraft has docked with ISSAxiom-4 Mission's Dragon spacecraft has docked with ISS. (Screenshot: X/@SpaceX)

Marking a major milestone for India’s space ambitions, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla of the Indian Air Force successfully arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on Thursday.

The spacecraft achieved a smooth docking—known as a soft capture—with the ISS on Thursday, the PTI reported. The journey onboard the SpaceX Dragon began a day earlier from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

Shukla is part of a four-member crew on the Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4), a private astronaut flight arranged by Axiom Space. This mission is particularly significant as it brings astronauts from India, Poland, and Hungary to the ISS for the first time in over four decades.

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The arrival of Shubhanshu Shukla on board the ISS is not just a personal triumph but a symbolic return for India to human spaceflight after 41 years.

The crew will remain at the orbiting laboratory for two weeks, during which they will carry out an extensive slate of scientific experiments and research activities.

Diverse international crew led by space veteran

The Ax-4 mission is commanded by Peggy Whitson, America’s most experienced astronaut and now a senior official at Axiom Space. Alongside Shukla, the team includes Tibor Kapu, a mechanical engineer from Hungary, and Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski, a radiation specialist and European Space Agency project astronaut from Poland.

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