The Axiom-4 space mission, carrying Indian Air Force Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and three other astronauts, successfully lifted off on Wednesday aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, marking a proud moment for India and two other countries—Poland and Hungary.

The rocket launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 2:31 am EDT (12:01 pm IST) after facing several delays earlier. The journey to the International Space Station (ISS) is expected to take about 28 and a half hours.

Once docked at the ISS, the astronauts will spend 14 days in space, carrying out more than 60 experiments focused on microgravity research, studies that explore how things behave without gravity.

India’s space agency, ISRO, sees this mission as a big step toward its upcoming Gaganyaan mission, the country’s first full-scale human space mission, expected around 2027.

For India, this is the first time in nearly 40 years that one of its citizens is headed to space. The last was Rakesh Sharma, who flew to the Salyut 7 space station in 1984 with the Soviet Union.

Right now, the spacecraft is flying through space at a speed of 26,500 km/h and is 413 km above Earth. It has already spent more than 21 hours and 46 minutes in orbit and is expected to reach the ISS at around 7 am EST (4:30 pm IST).

Space fans can follow the mission live online through official tracking links.

Viewers can track the mission here - https://www.spacex.com/follow-dragon.

This mission is extra special because it includes astronauts from India, Poland, and Hungary—countries that haven’t sent humans to space in nearly 50 years.

  • Poland last sent an astronaut, Miroslaw Hermaszewski, in 1978.

  • Hungary’s Bertalan Farkas flew to space in 1980.

As the rocket blasted off into the sky, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla shared a heartfelt message in Hindi: "What a fantastic ride."

“This isn't just the start of my journey to the International Space Station - it is the beginning of India's human space programme,” he added.

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