Group Captain Shubhanshu selected for Axiom Mission-4

Why in news?

Shubhanshu Shukla of Lucknow has been selected as the pilot of Axiom Mission-4 for the International Space Station (ISS).
- He will be the first ISRO astronaut to travel to the ISS under the NASA-Axiom Space collaboration.

Axiom Mission-4 (Ax-4) astronauts:

Name	Country	Role	Expertise
Peggy Whitson	USA	Mission Commander	Former NASA astronaut, experienced ISS commander
Shubanshu Shukla	India	Mission Pilot	Indian Air Force pilot, first Indian to reach ISS
Slawosz Uznański-Wiśniewski	Poland	Mission Specialist	Polish astronaut, scientific research
Tibor Kapu	Hungary	Mission Specialist	Hungarian astronaut, research specialist

It is a private space mission.
It is being operated by Axiom Space.
This mission will travel to the International Space Station (ISS) and will include various astronauts.
Convenience: Axiom Space, jointly operated by NASA and SpaceX.
Launch Vehicle: Launch via SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Spacecraft: SpaceX Dragon capsule will be used.
Launch Site: Launch will take place from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA.
Space travel duration: Astronauts will stay on the International Space Station (ISS) for about 14 days.

Various experiments will be conducted in microgravity, including biotechnology, physical science and medical research.
It aims to establish a private space station in the future on the ISS.
New technologies will be tested to make space travel more effective and affordable.

Shubhanshu Shukla was born on 10 October 1985 in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
He started his service in the Indian Air Force as a fighter pilot in June 2006.
He got promoted to the rank of Group Captain in March 2024.
He has flown over 2,000 hours on several aircraft like Su-30 MKI, MiG-21, MiG-29, Jaguar, Hawk, Dornier and An-32.
In 2019, he underwent astronaut training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Russia.