India will take its cosmic leap of faith on June 11 when Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla will lift off for the International Space Station for the Axiom-4 mission, becoming the second Indian in 41 years to fly to space. As a mission pilot, Group Captain Shukla will fly in a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft with three other astronauts as part of the Indo-US mission.

The spacecraft will now lift off at 8:00 am ET (5:30 pm IST) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida after it was postponed by a day due to bad weather. NDTV spoke to several astronauts ahead of the launch, who sent their best wishes to the Axiom-4 crew.

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Michael Lopez-Alegria

Michael Lopez-Alegria, Chief Astronaut of Axiom Space and a veteran of four spaceflights, said, “Shux, good luck to you and the rest of the crew. Enjoy it.” ‘Shux’ is Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla’s call sign.

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Michael Lopez-Alegria trained the pilots for the mission. When asked whether it would be difficult for him, the veteran astronaut said, “I don’t think so…He’ll feel some pressure. He’ll be under a lot of tension to keep up with the pace because it’s pretty fast. But he’s very well trained,” adding that Group Captain Shukla will be an “outstanding astronaut and he’ll do great.”

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The veteran astronaut wished the team a “Happy Splashdown”.

Hazzaa AlMansoori

The Emirati astronaut Hazzaa AlMansoori shared his insights on his camaraderie with Group Shukla, which was built during their time together in Houston, and said, “I have no doubt he can do it, and he’s a really amazing person. Down to ground in terms of dealing with the instructors and with everyone. He’s very professional and I like to work with him.”

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On whether Group Shukla would make a good astronaut, AlMansoori said, “Definitely he’s ready and he’s going to represent India in a very professional way.”

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Thomas Pesquet

European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet, who had spent over a year aboard the International Space Station in 2016-17 and 2021 and has trained alongside India’s astronaut-designate Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, said he will be a “great astronaut”.

“I think the four astronauts designated from India are fantastic people, and I was lucky enough to meet them a while ago,” he said.

The European astronaut said he met the Indian astronauts during their training, when he was training for his second mission. Mr Pesquet said he has been friends with them since then.

“I’ll be at the launch cheering for him,” the astronaut told NDTV. He gave a message to Group Captain Shukla and said, “Trust your

training because sometimes, you know, it’s still an unexpected environment that he hasn’t been in, that you haven’t been in. So trust your training like you’ve been doing your whole life.”

Do the right thing. Keep calm if things don’t go the way they’re expected. It’s space. You know, it doesn’t always cooperate. Enjoy the ride, try to make yourself some good memories. Look at the Earth. Take pictures of your activities, of your crewmates. It’s going to go super fast. So be conscious in trying to imprint those memories on your brain because you’re going to need them when you come back,” he added.

Group Captain Angad Pratap

Group Captain Angad Pratap, one of the four astronauts with Group Captain Shukla, will fly as part of India’s first manned flight into space.

Group Captain Pratap, an experienced officer of the Indian Air Force, gave a message for his colleague’s mission and said, “Shukla has got that opportunity to fly into space. It is not Shukla alone who gets to fly into space. But as a space traveller, I’m sure that Shukla will have a lot of gratitude for all the people who’ve made him reach where he is, or for that matter, who were involved in the making of the four of us.

“There are a lot of people like unnamed souls, who are working in this space ecosystem, includes primarily the scientists who toil very hard in the Indian space. The engineers who have been working in the Indian Space Research Organization for decades, they’ve been waiting for an opportunity to get a chance to travel to space. There is also a full industrial ecosystem which supports the cause of space science in India, which supports the ISRO.”

“These are those faceless people whose aspirations are going to fly along with Shukla. He is not a single person alone. He’s got a big responsibility on his shoulders, and he must remember that he’s not alone. With him, a lot of other Indians are going to fly,” Group Captain Angad said.

He added that “The aim of starting human spaceflight in India is that spaceflight experience should be available to the average person. And it should not be restricted to some astronauts who are a handful of numbers and have been chosen among millions or billions. So good luck to Captain Shukla.”

Group Captain Rakesh Sharma

In 1984, then-Wing Commander (later Group Captain) Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to fly to space in an Indo-Soviet mission. It was a giant leap of faith in India’s space programme, and the veteran astronaut, a loving legend, was conferred with the Ashok Chakra, India’s highest peacetime gallantry award.

Group Captain Rakesh Sharma (Retd.) said, “Shubhanshu, all the very best, happy landings and look forward to whatever you’re going to see. You’ll come back a changed person, is what I’m going to say.”

Reflecting on his own experience of going to space, Group Captain Sharma said, “Over the years, when you go over that experience, it brings in new insights as to what’s happening to planet Earth. It gives you a sense of where you should be going, where space exploration should be going. So that it does change you.”