The Axiom-4 Mission, with India’s Shubhanshu Shukla and three other astronauts on board, roared into space at noon on Wednesday, beginning a 28-hour journey to the International Space Station.

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In the process, Shukla became the second Indian to travel to space, more than 40 years after Rakesh Sharma travelled on a Soviet mission in 1984. Two other astronauts on the mission, Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary, are also marking the return of their respective countries to space after more than four decades.