India Untold
Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla has been selected for the India-US joint space mission. Remarkably, he is the fifth astronaut of Indian origin to travel to space.
Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla is the youngest astronaut nominated by ISRO for the upcoming India-US mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
According to ISRO's announcement, Group Captain Prashant Balakrishnan Nair has been selected as the backup for the mission.
Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, born on October 10, 1985, in Lucknow, was recently promoted to Group Captain from his previous rank of Wing Commander.
Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy and was commissioned into the fighter branch of the Indian Air Force on June 17, 2006.
He will travel on the Axiom-4 mission using a SpaceX rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft.
He has completed the Fighter Combat Leader course at the Tactics and Combat Development Establishment School. He is also a test pilot with 2,000 hours of flying experience.
He has experience of flying a range of aircraft, including the Su-30 MKI, MiG-21, MiG-29, Jaguar, BAE Hawk, Dornier, and An-32.
Before Shubhanshu Shukla, astronauts of Indian origin who have travelled to space include Kalpana Chawla, Sunita Williams, Raja Chari, and Rakesh Sharma.