• Source:JND
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After a long wait of 40 years since Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma's flight, another Indian astronaut is set to touch the milestone on a NASA mission. Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla has been chosen as the Indian astronaut for the upcoming NASA-ISRO space collaboration and is set to go to the International Space Station (ISS) on a private company probe.

He was chosen from among the four 'Gaganyatris' currently under training for India's first space mission, Gaganyaan, slated to be launched in some time. ISRO's Human Space Flight Centre has entered into an agreement with Axiom Space Inc, USA for its Axiom-4 mission to the space station.

Here are five points about Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla

1. Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla was born on October 10, 1985, in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow. Fondly called 'Gunjan' by parents and siblings, Shubhanshu is the youngest in the family.

2. Now 38, Group Captain Shubhanshu is an alumnus of the prestigious National Defence Academy (NDA). He entered into the Indian Air Force on June 17, 2006, in the fighter stream of IAF.

3. He is an experienced combat leader and test pilot with around 2,000 flight hours. His repertoire includes flying a diverse range of fighter aircraft such as the Su-30 MKI, MiG-21, MiG-29, Jaguar, Hawk, Dornier, and An-32, among others.

4. The Lucknow lad will go to space on the Axiom-4 mission using Elon Musk's SpaceX rocket Crew Dragon.

5. Shubhanshu is married to a dentist from Jankipuram, and they have a four-year-old son. His older sister, Nidhi, holds an MBA degree. He is the first member of his family to join the defence forces.