Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla is the first Indian in space since Rakesh Sharma, who took part in a Soviet-led initiative in 1984
A US commercial mission carrying astronauts from India, Poland and Hungary blasted off to the International Space Station on Wednesday, marking the first time in decades that these nations have sent crew members to space.
Axiom Mission 4, or Ax-4, launched from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida at 2.31am, with a brand-new SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule riding atop a Falcon 9 rocket.
The vehicle is scheduled to dock with the orbital lab on Thursday at around 1100 GMT and remain there for up to 14 days.
Aboard the spacecraft were pilot Shubhanshu Shukla of India; mission specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary; and commander Peggy Whitson of the United States, a former Nasa astronaut who now works for the company Axiom Space, which organises private space flights, among other things.
