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Shubhanshu Shukla and teammates were seen floating weightless inside the space station in first visuals.
Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla among those seen hydrating with floating pouches in viral video. (IMAGE: NASA)
The four-member crew of Axiom Mission 4 successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, June 26, marking another milestone in the rise of commercial spaceflight—and India’s expanding presence in it.
“The #Ax4 crew—commander Peggy Whitson, @ISRO astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, @ESA astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, and mission specialist Tibor Kapu—emerges from the Dragon spacecraft and gets their first look at their home in low Earth orbit,” NASA posted on X, sharing a video of the crew members hugging their counterparts already aboard.
The brief video showed the Axiom-4 crew floating into the ISS, weightless and smiling, as they exchanged hugs with the resident astronauts. Juice pouches were passed around as the crew rehydrated and settled into their new home in orbit.
Led by former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, the mission includes India’s Shubhanshu Shukla, Poland’s Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, and Hungary’s Tibor Kapu.
The #Ax4 crew—commander Peggy Whitson, @ISRO astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, @ESA astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, and mission specialist Tibor Kapu—emerges from the Dragon spacecraft and gets their first look at their home in low Earth orbit. pic.twitter.com/5q0RfoSv4G— NASA (@NASA) June 26, 2025
The crew lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday at 2:31 a.m. EDT (0632 GMT). Roughly 24 hours later, the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docked smoothly with the ISS at 6:31 a.m. on Thursday.
The Dragon capsule was launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket built by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, continuing the private sector’s growing role in manned missions.
Shukla’s presence on this flight is being seen as a precursor to India’s own Gaganyaan crewed mission, scheduled for 2027. The Axiom-4 astronauts will now spend 14 days on the station conducting scientific experiments and outreach work in microgravity.
Shankhyaneel Sarkar is a senior subeditor at News18. He covers international affairs, where he focuses on breaking news to in-depth analyses. He has over five years of experience during which he has covered sev…Read More
Shankhyaneel Sarkar is a senior subeditor at News18. He covers international affairs, where he focuses on breaking news to in-depth analyses. He has over five years of experience during which he has covered sev… Read More
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