Smriti Mahajan

This was Axiom Space’s fourth private space flight to the ISS, which marked a historic return to space for its three partner nations: India, Poland and Hungary, in over 40 years. This was also the first time that all three countries executed a mission on board the ISS. From an Indian perspective, this is a milestone in the history of the Indian space programme, because Shubhanshu Shukla became the first Indian to set foot on the ISS, and the second one in space after Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, who flew aboard the Soyuz T-11 back in April 1984.

The Ax-4 mission had a crew of four members: the legendary mission commander Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut; pilot Shubhanshu Shukla of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO); mission specialists S?awosz Uzna?ski-Wi?niewski from Poland, representing the European Space Agency (ESA), and Tibor Kapu from the Hungarian space office.

Indian Science Experiments on the ISS

The Axiom 4 crew carried out 60 science experiments and activities representing 31 different countries, including the US, India, Poland, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates, and nations across Europe. This was the most research and science-related activities conducted on an Axiom space mission aboard the ISS to date, making it globally significant for advancing microgravity research in low Earth orbit (LEO; 400 km above the surface of Earth).

During his 18-day stay onboard the ISS, Capt. Shubhanshu Shukla led seven microgravity experiments spanning agriculture, biology, and human adaptation in space. All the experiments were exclusively designed by ISRO in collaboration with various research institutions from across India. These experiments are crucial, as they will help design efficient modules for…read more on NOPR