India’s Rs 548 crore Space Leap: Shukla rides the Falcon 9 to the ISS

On June 10, 2025, at 5:52 PM IST (8:22 AM EDT), Community Captain Shubhanshu Shukla will carry off to the Global Space Web web page online (ISS), changing into the predominant Indian astronaut since 1984 to undertake this kind of hurry. As the pilot of Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4), he will hover aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, launched on a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After roughly 28 hours of commute, the crew is anticipated to dock with the ISS by 10:00 PM IST on June 11, 2025.

Shukla joins an elite worldwide crew: Commander Peggy Whitson (USA, Axiom Space), and Mission Specialists Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski (Poland, ESA) and Tibor Kapu (Hungary, Hunor Programme). The crew will spend as a lot as 14 days aboard the ISS, conducting over 60 scientific experiments from 31 worldwide locations, in conjunction with seven from India, similar to be taught on plant progress in microgravity, muscle regeneration, and tardigrade resilience.

Born on October 10, 1985, in Lucknow, Shukla is a embellished Indian Air Force take a look at pilot with over 2,000 flight hours. He has undergone rigorous astronaut coaching in Russia and at SpaceX services and products within the US, and may back in spacecraft navigation, docking, and emergency procedures for the duration of the mission. Nevertheless beyond his technical feature, Shukla carries India’s cultural pride into space—bringing along items designed by National Institute of Make (NID) students, performing yoga in microgravity, sharing Indian delicacies like mango nectar and moong dal halwa, and planning are residing interactions with Indian faculty younger folks and presumably Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

SpaceX has revolutionized space commute economics. While NASA pays around $55 million per seat under its commercial crew program, non-public clients like Axiom Space are charged $52–55 million per seat, aside from absorb-connected costs. NASA costs $35,000 per night per astronaut to be used of the ISS. India’s investment for Shukla’s mission seat is around ₹548 crore (roughly $65 million), while the total non-public mission mark per astronaut can crawl as a lot as $100 million, in conjunction with coaching and logistics. In comparability, Russia’s Soyuz costs around $80–86 million per seat, Boeing’s Starliner costs about $90 million, and the now-retired Space Shuttle had a mark of roughly $170 million per astronaut. For reference, cargo missions on SpaceX’s Dragon mark any place between $21,000 and $89,000 per kg, while human missions are some distance dearer due to added life toughen and safety systems.

Shukla’s mission is more than true a spaceflight—it’s a image of India’s return to human space exploration. He carries a particular swan named “Joy”, representing recordsdata (India), resilience (Poland), and charm (Hungary). The scientific experiments onboard are anticipated to make contributions to India’s ambition of creating a space location by 2035 and toughen its moon mission dreams feature for 2047. This mission also strengthens worldwide space ties, particularly between India and the US, following commitments made for the duration of PM Modi’s 2023 refer to.

In every sense, Community Captain Shubhanshu Shukla’s hurry aboard the human-rated Falcon 9 rocket is a large soar for India—each and every in science and symbolism. With his a success flight, India now not handiest rekindles its human spaceflight legacy after four a protracted time nonetheless also models the stage for increased roles in world space partnerships, lowering-edge be taught, and inspiration for the next know-how of Indian scientists, engineers, and dreamers.

—E.O.M

(Girish Linganna is an award-a success science communicator and a Defence, Aerospace & Geopolitical Analyst.He is the Managing Director of ADD Engineering Parts
India Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of ADD Engineering GmbH, Germany )