The crew will be led by America’s most experienced astronaut Dr. Peggy Annette Whitson.
New Delhi:
The ISRO-NASA joint astronaut mission, which will see an Indian travel to the International Space Station for the first time, is expected to launch between April and June next year and US company Axiom Space is expected to see an Indian. A senior official of the company said that rockets will be used in such missions in the future.
Speaking exclusively to NDTV, Indian-American and Ahmedabad-born Axiom Space Director International Government Business Pearly Pandya said the Chandrayaan-3 mission has shown that India is emerging as a space superpower. She also shared details of the Axiom-4 mission, under which Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla will become the second Indian astronaut to go into space after Rakesh Sharma in 1984.
Ms. Pandya said Shubhanshu Shukla will be the pilot for the mission to take the team led by America’s most experienced astronaut Dr. Peggy Annette Whitson, 64, to the International Space Station. Group Captain Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair, who is the backup for Group Captain Shukla, is also undergoing the same training conducted by Axiom Space.
“As an Indian-American, this mission has the potential to connect my two worlds but also the Indian diaspora internationally. People are very excited to see India launch its first mission to the International Space Station (ISS). It is our honor to have Group Captains Shukla and Nair training with us. It is exciting for them, they are learning a lot, they can also learn all the requirements of NASA. From the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), “she said.
An Axiom official said Indian astronauts, also known as Gaganayatris, are learning how to operate payloads and conduct scientific research on microgravity.
Ms. Pandya said that the commercial mission is end-to-end for Axiom and will take care of astronaut training, medical operations and help conduct experiments.
SpaceX rocket, NASA training
An Axiom official confirmed that the company will use the SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule on the mission.
She said astronauts are being trained at NASA facilities like the Johnson Space Center, and that Axiom is also working on some of its demonstration modules as it builds a successor to the ISS.
During the 10-14 day Axiom-4 mission, astronauts will conduct biomedical research, human health research, technology demonstration and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) outreach, he added.
Indian rocket?
An Axiom official said the company is looking for a long-term collaboration with India.
Asked about Indian rockets being used for missions for a possible successor to the ISS, which Axiom is building, she said, “I would love to see that. It’s important for us to have a global and diverse supply chain. The successes we’ve seen with Chandrayaan-3 make India a space superpower.” has shown to be emerging and we are very excited to be a part of that story.
On India’s plans to build its own space station, the Indian Space Station, by 2035, Ms. Pandya said Axiom was ready to help the country and would be happy to build interoperability, build modules, or even work on “space trade.” Each station has different capabilities.
Mission Pilot
Ms. Pandya said Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla has been assigned the role of mission pilot pending approval from the ISS Multilateral Panel.
About her role, Ms. Pandya said, “Navigation… a lot of Crew Dragon is autonomous but the pilot is able to understand a lot of emergency protocols, docking protocols and has valuable insights into navigation.
Asked what would be Group Captain Nair’s role, she said, “He also undergoes similar training, and India’s two astronauts are ready for future manned space flights.”
Dal, Commander
The mission commander will be former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, who now works for Axiom Space.
“The commander-in-chief is the most decorated Axiom astronaut, former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson. She is an inspiration to many women in space and beyond,” Ms Pandya said.
The other two crew members are Poland’s Sławoz Uznanski, an astronaut with the European Space Agency and will be the mission specialist. Hungary’s Tibor Kapu will also play a similar role.
Ms. Pandya said she was also excited by the announcement by Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams, who is on the ISS, that she would interact with Indian astronaut-elects when she returns to Earth.
“It will play the ISRO-NASA-Axiom space collaboration perfectly,” she said.
cost
An Axiom official said the cost per seat on this type of commercial mission is in the “mid-$60 million” range. The amount is likely to be paid by ISRO, but he did not go into details on whether the cost would increase when there is a backup candidate.