New Delhi, June 9 Even as IAF Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla readies to create history by becoming the first Indian to reach the International Space Station (ISS), his family on Monday said it's a moment of "immense pride" for the nation and his loved ones.
The US-based Axiom Space is scheduled to carry Shukla, along with three others, to the ISS from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on June 10 at 8:22 a.m. ET (5:52 pm IST).
While Shukla will become the first Indian to reach the ISS, he will be the second to go to space, after Rakesh Sharma flew to the space station Salyut 7 in 1984.
"We are definitely feeling proud; our son has done something that brings pride in itself...", Shukla's mother told IANS from Lucknow.
She also urged parents to encourage children to find their own paths and to reach heights.
Shukla's father expressed happiness and called his launch to ISS as the first Indian "a big achievement for the country", which came after 40 long years.
Meanwhile, his sister elucidated the efforts Shukla has put in from the beginning of his professional journey to reach this moment.
"It is a matter of immense pride for our entire family...," she added.
The IAF officer is the youngest astronaut-designate under India's Gaganyaan mission -- the country’s first human spaceflight mission.
Ahead of his historic journey to space, Shukla's hometown is celebrating with posters, car stickers. Cutouts are also being displayed proudly at his residence.
Shukla will pilot the mission along with Commander Peggy Whitson, from the US. Other crew members include mission specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski (Poland), and Tibor Kapu (Hungary).
Once aboard the ISS, the Group Captain is expected to conduct exclusive food and nutrition-related experiments.
The experiments -- developed under a collaboration between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), with support from NASA -- aim to pioneer space nutrition and self-sustaining life support systems vital for future long-duration space travel.
The experiment will examine the impact of microgravity and space radiation on edible microalgae -- a high-potential, nutrient-rich food source.
The study will focus on key growth parameters and the changes in transcriptomes, proteomes, and metabolomes of various algal species in space compared to Earth conditions.
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