Indranil Banerjie | India’s Space Dreams Soar With Shukla’s ISS Mission

Forty-one years ago, Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma had delighted the nation by becoming the first Indian to soar into space. Last week, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla of the Indian Air Force similarly entered the history books by becoming the second Indian to do the same. On June 25, he blasted off from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Centre in the United States into outer space piloting a privately built and launched spacecraft along with three other astronauts. The next day, their Axiom-4 spacecraft named “Dragon Grace” docked with the International Space Station (ISS) orbiting 400 km above the earth.

It was the perfect mission, despite coming after a series of false starts and delays. “Hello my fellow countrymen, what a ride… After 41 years, we have returned to space,” Group Captain Shukla remarked after taking off. Once aboard the space station, Shukla and the other team members got busy learning to move and eat in zero gravity while initiating the many experiments that their mission involves. The team is scheduled to stay at the ISS for about two weeks before returning to earth.

Shukla’s space foray evoked the expected excitement back in India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi remarked that it was a proud moment for the country. Shukla acknowledged that his mission constituted a milestone for all Indians: “The tricolour on my shoulder reminds me that India stands with me. I want all my countrymen to be part of this journey. Jai Hind! Jai Bharat!”

Despite the media attention, however, the public reaction to the event could not compare with the euphoria that had followed Rakesh Sharma’s space foray in 1984. Those old enough to recall that moment would remember the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s question to astronaut Sharma about what India looked like from space, and his historic answer: “Saare Jahan Se Achcha!”

That was an emotional moment for all Indians and the first time one of them had entered the realm of outer space. This time was different. India had come a long way in its space journey. The Chandrayaan-3 moon mission in 2023 was a huge achievement, which successfully landed an Indian spacecraft on the surface of the moon using Indian rockets and mission control. Today, Isro is one of the world’s foremost space organisations with a long and impressive record of rocket and satellite launches.

Group Captain Shukla’s flight, historic though it is, is an all-American show. The entire mission has been conceived and executed by private US companies, Axiom Space and SpaceX; the Falcon-9 rocket as well as the C213 Dragon Grace spacecraft that took Shukla and his fellow astronauts to the space station is owned and operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX; and the entire mission is controlled by Nasa. The mission is commanded by US astronaut and Axiom employee Peggy Whitson, a veteran of four earlier space flights, while the other three crew members, including Shukla, Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski (Poland) and Tibor Kapu (Hungary), have all paid for their space experience.

A leading newspaper reported that the Indian government has spent around Rs 548 crores, or around $64 million, on the Axiom-4 mission. Nasa, Axiom or Isro have not officially disclosed the expenditure on the mission. Significantly, India’s Chandrayaan-3 moon mission in 2023 cost just about $75 million.

Shukla’s mission involved the Isro’s Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC) signing a space flight agreement with Axiom Space. Under the deal, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, an Indian Air Force pilot and designated “Gaganyatri” of the Indian astronaut corps, would be the prime mission pilot for the Axiom-4 mission while another “Gaganyatri”, Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, would serve as his backup.

The Isro-Axiom Space deal also stipulated that the Indian astronauts would receive a comprehensive astronaut training programme that meets Nasa standards and enables them for spaceflight and operations on the space station. Group Captain Shukla is to conduct several Isro experiments related to muscle regeneration in microgravity; growth of crop seeds (moong gram and fenugreek) and microalgae in space; the survival of tardigrades in extreme space conditions; and human interaction with electronic displays in microgravity. These experiments are considered vital for understanding the effects of space on human biology and for developing life support systems for future long-duration missions.

Group Captain Shukla’s mission should be viewed against the backdrop of the ambitions of India’s indigenous space programme, led by the Indian Space Research Organisation, which has been given a generous Rs 13,416 crores for the fiscal year 2025-26. India aims to launch its first independent crewed space mission Gaganyaan by 2027.

Despite the great strides in the space sector, however, India’s private space industry and its financing remains modest, especially so when contrasted with the thriving private space industry in the United States. Venture capitalists in India are not terribly excited about the hundreds of small private players who have emerged in the country after the Indian government’s June 2020 decision to boost private participation in the space economy. These fledgeling space startups are dependent on paltry government funding and weak investor confidence.

Earlier this year, the Indian government announced it would spend Rs 1,000 crores to partially fund medium and large private space ventures. According to the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), which is headquartered in Ahmedabad, 80 agreements have been signed till early 2025 out of more than 600 applicants. This looks like a good start, but in terms of scale is not impressive. A partnership like the one between the US government-funded Nasa and Elon Musk’s SpaceX is currently unimaginable in India.

US space organisations like Axiom Space, which executed the Axiom-4 mission (in collaboration with Nasa, Isro ESA and other partners) is a thriving commercial entity. It charges around $70 million per astronaut for a two-week mission to the International Space Station (ISS). India, as noted, spent about $64 million while the Polish Space Agency spent 65 million euros for its ticket.

Hungary, which also sent an astronaut in this mission, has not disclosed how much its ticket cost but had earlier announced a $100 million deal with Axiom in 2022.

Outer space today is not just about science and national pride, it is also about big money and untold opportunities. One can only hope Group Captain Shukla’s successful space flight will provide inspiration for the much-required boost for the country’s private space startups desperate to soar into outer space.