Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla’s Wife Recalls Emotional Send-Off Moment Before Axiom Mission 4 Launch, Reveals What Went Wrong

Shubhanshu Shukla, the Indian Gaganyatri currently aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Axiom-4 mission. He became the first Indian to go to the ISS. On June 26, Axiom Space's Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) crew successfully reached the International Space Station in a journey that lasted approximately 28 hours.

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Shubhanshu's wife Kamna Shukla took to Instagram to share a note describing his final moments before the launch. She shared some photos from the "see off" ceremony the astronauts participated in, with their family and friends present at a distance from them. Kamna shared that the Indian contingent presented a beautiful dance performance. She added that the traditional dance performance did not pan out as it was planned as the song that played was in a "different language" than the performer had prepared to. But, it turned out to be "riveting" and the "best cheer" for Shubhanshu.

Shubhanshu is on a 14-day scientific expedition on the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Axiom-4 mission, along with three other astronauts. The Ax-4 crew is conducting around 60 scientific and commercial studies in microgravity. India, through Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), has contributed seven key experiments to this mission, spanning muscle loss, cancer biology, diabetes care, and brain activity.

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“What happens on going to space is that because gravity is absent, the load goes away and hence muscle loss occurs. So, my experiment is looking at whether we can stop or delay this muscle loss by giving some supplement,” Shukla told Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a live interaction from orbit.