When Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla takes flight aboard Axiom Mission 4 this June, he will not just be piloting a spacecraft to the International Space Station — he will be piloting India into a new era of space exploration. Nearly 41 years after Rakesh Sharma’s historic journey aboard a Soviet Soyuz capsule, India finds itself returning to human spaceflight, this time through global collaboration, private enterprise, and a strategic investment in experience.

Group Captain Shukla’s participation in the Ax-4 mission marks a subtle but profound shift in India’s space strategy. This is not a one-off symbolic achievement, but a carefully calculated move to gain real-time experience in orbital operations, international teamwork, and microgravity experimentation. The mission may be commercially operated by Axiom Space and launched by SpaceX, but India’s decision........

© The Statesman