India's return to space: Axiom-4 finally lifts off; Shubhanshu Shukla first Indian to cross Karman line in 41 years
As night enveloped Cape Canaveral, India entered a new dawn when the Falcon-9 rocket lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 2.31am ET (12.01pm IST). In the pilot seat of 'Dragon', the Axiom-4 space capsule that would take a four-member crew to the International Space Station on Thursday, was India's Group Captain
.
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"Namaskar, mere pyaare desh vasiyon," Shukla radioed to Earth minutes after entering space. "What a ride! We are orbiting Earth at a velocity of 7.5km per second (27,000 kmph)." Later, PM Modi congratulated the mission and posted that Shukla "is on the way to become the first Indian to go to the ISS".
Shukla becomes the first Indian to cross the 'Karman line' in over 41 years, after Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma's flight on the Soviet Soyuz T-11 on April 3, 1984.
Shukla's message from space - "this isn't the beginning of my journey to ISS, but beginning of India's human space flight programme" - reflects India's ambition to have its own space station by 2035 and crewed missions to Moon and beyond.
After multiple postponements, Ax-4 mission lifted off Wednesday carrying commander Peggy Whitson (US), 65, mission pilot Shukla, 39, and mission specialists Sławosz Uznanski (Poland), 41, and Tibor Kapu (Hungary), 34, on a 14-day mission to ISS.
Earlier, the symbolic "crew handover" took place. The four astronauts waved to their families before heading to the launchpad in a Tesla. Strapped into the Dragon capsule, the crew underwent final checks as the countdown proceeded. Post lift-off, the capsule separated from the second stage nine minutes, 38 seconds later, beginning its journey to ISS. The capsule, now named 'Grace', is expected to dock with ISS at 4.30pm IST on Thursday.
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Dragon capsule "Grace" separated from Falcon 9 nine minutes after launch and is now orbiting Earth at 27,000kmph. Nose cone deployed. Navigation instruments and docking sensors exposed as the spacecraft begins its precision chase of International Space Station.
Grace circles Earth once every 90 minutes. The journey isn't a straight line and docking isn't immediate. Over the next 24 to 28 hours, the capsule will execute a series of thruster burns - each timed to the second - to raise & fine-tune its orbit, aligning perfectly with the station's trajectory.
A slight delay could shift the narrow rendezvous window. Onboard systems track position in real-time using GPS, radar, and sensors, continuously updating Grace's path against that of the ISS.
F
inal approach begins Thursday. Dragon will stop at predetermined waypoints, starting 400m out and moving in stages. At each halt, ground controllers and onboard software assess whether conditions are right to proceed.
At 20 metres, laser sensors and cameras take over. Grace creeps forward at just a few centimetres a second, lining up precisely with Harmony module's docking port.
Soft capture comes first - magnetic guides gently pull the capsule into place. Then hard capture follows, as mechanical latches lock and seal the connection. Hatch opening is not immediate. Engineers on Earth conduct pressure and leak checks before approving crew transfer.
Aboard are four Axiom-4 astronauts and a fifth member - Joy, a soft, white baby swan toy serving as the mission's zero-gravity indicator. Joy carries personal meaning: chosen with Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla's six-year-old son, Kiash - fondly called Sid - in mind.
"Our first ideas all included animals," said mission specialist Tibor Kapu. "We have one kid with the crew, Shux's kid Sid, who basically just loves animals. We wanted dinosaurs and lions, but we couldn't find the right one. We were extremely happy when we found Joy."
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