New Delhi:
As India eagerly waits for its giant cosmic leap, the first visuals from inside the SpaceX spacecraft are flashing on TV screens. The visuals show Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, all geared up, along with three others, for the big launch, scheduled at 12.01 pm today.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, flying on a Falcon-9 rocket, will lift off from the Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the same spot where Neil Armstrong set off for the moon on Apollo 11 in 1969.
Shubhanshu Shukla will be India’s second astronaut travelling to space, four decades after Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma made the cosmic journey as part of a Soviet mission in 1984. The Indian Air Force pilot has been in quarantine for more than a month to ensure he is healthy.
Besides Group Captain Shukla, mission specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary; and commander Peggy Whitson of the US are aboard the spacecraft.
The four-member crew of the Axiom-4 Mission will conduct 60 scientific experiments, seven of which have been proposed by Indian researchers, during the fortnight-long mission
The Axiom-4 launch has seen multiple delays due to a variety of reasons, including weather and technical glitches. June 25 is the sixth date announced by NASA.
In a recent media interaction, Group Captain Shukla said, “I carry with me not just instruments and equipment, but the hopes and dreams of a billion hearts.”
