New Delhi: It’s a historic moment for India as Indian Air Force (IAF) Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, along with three international crewmates, successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS), becoming the first Indian to reach the orbiting laboratory.

Shukla is part of the Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4), which lifted off aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft named ‘Grace.’ The spacecraft docked with the Harmony module of the ISS at 6:31 a.m. ET (4:00 p.m. IST) today.

Born in Lucknow, Shukla launched to space at 2:31 a.m. EDT (12:00 noon IST) from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, aboard the Falcon 9 rocket.

The Ax-4 mission includes Commander Peggy Whitson (USA), Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla (India), and Mission Specialists Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski (Poland) and Tibor Kapu (Hungary).

This marks the return of an Indian astronaut to space after 41 years. Shukla becomes only the second Indian to enter space, following Rakesh Sharma’s historic flight in 1984.

"This is not my journey alone. I am carrying the Indian flag with me—this is India’s journey into human spaceflight," Shukla said ahead of the mission.

To bring a taste of home with him, Shukla has carried carrot halwa, moong dal halwa, and mango nectar aboard the ISS.

While in orbit, he will conduct groundbreaking experiments focused on food science and space nutrition. One of the key experiments will assess the effects of microgravity and space radiation on edible microalgae—a nutrient-rich food source with high potential for future space missions. Researchers will evaluate critical growth parameters and study transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic changes in various algae species, comparing their behavior in space to that on Earth.