India’s first private astronaut launch since 1984 took flight aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A
25 June 2025 at 12:01 PM IST
– Peggy Whitson (USA) – Commander, veteran NASA astronaut with record 675 days in space – Shubhanshu Shukla (India) – Pilot, IAF Group Captain & ISRO astronaut-in-training
Around T‑53 going through “wind upload troubleshooting,” it was resolved by T‑35, confirming a successful path ahead
– 12:01 PM IST: Liftoff! – 12:14 PM IST: Dragon separates from Falcon 9’s second stage; first stage lands successfully at LZ‑1
Shukla becomes the first Indian in space in over 40 years, the second overall after Rakesh Sharma in 1984
The Crew Dragon will dock with ISS on June 26 around 4:30 PM IST (7 AM EDT). The crew will spend ~14 days on board
Axiom 4 exemplifies a new era — public-private partnerships (ISRO, NASA, Axiom, SpaceX) and multi‑national astronaut participation, bolstering India’s Gaganyaan roadmap for 2027