VIDEO: Axiom-4: “I Am Like a Child…” – Shubhanshu Shukla’s First Message from Space

39-year-old Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, a pilot and astronaut of the Indian Air Force, flew on the Axiom-4 mission to the International Space Station (ISS). A few hours after takeoff, he has released his first message from space.

Releasing the message from space, Shubhanshu Shukla said- "Hello everyone from space. I am thrilled to be here with my fellow astronauts. Wow, what a journey it was. When I was sitting in the capsule on the launchpad, the only thought in my mind was let's just go.''

Shared the experience of microgravity

Sitting inside the Crew Dragon spacecraft launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Shukla shared his space experience. In his first hours on the spacecraft, Shukla commented on the experience of microgravity.

Shukla is one of four astronauts on board the X-4 mission, along with commander Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut and veteran of three previous missions, and mission specialists Tibor Kapu of Hungary and Slawoj Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland.

Mission postponed multiple times

Shukla's family and thousands of well-wishers watched the launch live at public watch parties in India, Hungary, Poland and the United States. From Lucknow to Budapest, Gdansk to Houston, cheers erupted as the Falcon 9 took off from the historic LC-39A pad, the same launch pad from where Apollo 11 began its mission to the moon in July 1969.