ISRO Makes Big Announcement: Ax-4 Mission To Launch On June 19
India’s Shubhanshu Shukla’s Ax-4 Mission To Launch On June 19: The launch of the mission carrying Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla to the International Space Station may now take place on June 19. According to ISRO, Axiom Space Company has fixed the liquid oxygen leak in the Falcon 9 rocket, due to which the launch had to be postponed on June 11. ISRO said in a press release that during the meeting between ISRO, Axiom Space, and SpaceX, it was confirmed that the liquid oxygen leak observed in the Falcon 9 launch vehicle has been successfully fixed.
Axiom Space reported that they are working closely with NASA to assess the pressure anomaly in the Zvezda Service Module on the International Space Station. Axiom Space is now targeting June 19, 2025, for launch.
Who is Shubhanshu Shukla?
Indian Air Force Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla is one of the four astronauts involved in the Gaganyaan program. Along with him, European Space Agency astronaut Slawomir Ujnski-Wisniewski of Poland, former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, and Tibor Kapu of Hungary are part of this mission. Shukla was selected for the Ax-4 mission by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the US in 2023. Shubhanshu has also received special training from SpaceX and Axiom Space.
Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian to go to space
This mission of Shubhanshu Shukla reminds us of Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian to go to space. Rakesh went to space in 1984 in collaboration with the Soviet Union. After this, Sunita Williams went on space travel in many NASA missions. Now, Shubhanshu Shukla is also going to space. India has spent about Rs 548 crore on this mission so far. This includes the launch as well as the training of Shubhanshu Shukla and his backup Group Captain Prashant Nair.
Shubhanshu’s relation with Lucknow
40-year-old Shubhanshu Shukla is from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. He has two elder sisters. One is a teacher in Lucknow and the other lives in Delhi. Shubhanshu studied till the twelfth from the Aliganj branch of City Montessori School, Lucknow. His father’s name is Shambhu Dayal Shukla, and his mother’s name is Asha Shukla. Inspired by the 1999 Kargil War, he took the National Defense Academy exam and was successful. After graduating from NDA in 2005, he started serving in the Indian Air Force as a fighter pilot in June 2006. Shubhanshu has more than 2,000 hours of flying experience. He has flown Su-30 MKI, MiG-21, MiG-29, Jaguar, Hawk, Dornier 228, and An-32. ISRO selected Shubhanshu Shukla for India’s first human space mission, ‘Gaganyaan’ in 2019.
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