IAF Pilot's Space Mission To Continue Despite Musk-Trump Fight: Sources
New Delhi:
Indian Air Force (IAF) Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla's mission to the International Space Station (ISS) next week will not be affected by the ongoing feud between US President Donald Trump and SpaceX chief Elon Musk, sources said on Thursday.
The sources at Axiom Space Inc said Axiom Mission 4 will take off at 5.52pm (India time) on June 10, as decided earlier, despite Mr Musk's initial decision to "decommission" his spacecraft amid escalating tensions with the US President. He withdrew the announcement later.
If all goes well, Mr Shukla will be the first Indian to reach the ISS.
The private astronaut mission is jointly being carried out by Axiom Space Inc, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It will launch aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on a Falcon 9 rocket, from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. India has paid more than $60 million for the mission.
Thirty-nine-year-year-old Shukla will be accompanied by Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut and mission commander, Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary. Once docked, the astronauts are scheduled to spend up to 14 days aboard the orbiting laboratory, conducting a mission comprising science, outreach and commercial activities.
Group Captain Shukla's travel to space comes four decades after Rakesh Sharma's iconic spaceflight onboard Russia's Soyuz spacecraft in 1984. He will serve as the Mission Pilot.
A decorated test pilot with the IAF, Mr Shukla was shortlisted under ISRO's Human Spaceflight Program (HSP) and is among the top contenders for the Gaganyaan mission, India's first indigenous crewed orbital flight. His journey aboard the Axiom Mission 4 is expected to provide critical hands-on experience in spaceflight operations, launch protocols, microgravity adaptation, and emergency preparedness - all essential for India's crewed space ambitions.
The Group Captain will conduct seven experiments in the fields of agriculture, food and human biology when he travels to the ISS next month.
Early on Friday, Mr Musk announced the immediate "decommissioning" of SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, only to backtrack a few hours later, saying he is with "Team America".
The immediate trigger behind the withdrawn announcement was the President's threat to terminate government contracts with the Tesla CEO, amid a series of spiraling disagreements rooted in the latter's criticism of the administration's tax-cut and spending legislation that erupted last week.
"In light of the President's statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately," Mr Musk posted on X.
In light of the President's statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately pic.twitter.com/NG9sijjkgW
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 5, 2025
However, after an X user slammed the most powerful Trump and world's richest Musk for their "shameful" fight and asked them to "take a step back for a couple of days", the Tesla CEO said: "Good advice. Ok, we won't decommission Dragon".
Subsequently, Mr Musk reshared a photo of the US flag against the backdrop of the Dragon on X, saying "Team America".
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