Desi Talk

www.desitalk.com – that’s all you need to know 10 SPECIAL REPORT July 25, 2025 Axiom-04 Mission: The Pinnacle Of US-India Partnership In Space O n February 13, 2025, President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during an ‘Official Working Visit’ released a Joint Statement, a follow up of the Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, announcing a new initiative – the “U.S.-India COMPACT (Catalyzing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce & Technology) for the 21st Century” – to drive transforma- tive change across key pillars of coopera- tion,” theWhite House announced. It contained among other things, an initiative on space cooperation, which read as follows: “The leaders hailed 2025 as a pio- neering year for U.S.-India civil space cooperation, with plans for a NASA-ISRO effort through AXIOM to bring the first Indian astronaut to the International Space Station (ISS), and early launch of the joint “NISAR” mission, the first of its kind to systematically map changes to the Earth’s surface using dual radars. The leaders called for more collaboration in space exploration, including on long duration human spaceflight missions, spaceflight safety and sharing of expertise and professional exchanges in emerging areas, including planetary protection. The leaders committed to further commercial space collaboration through industry engagements in conventional and emerg- ing areas, such as connectivity, advanced spaceflight, satellite and space launch sys- tems, space sustainability, space tourism and advanced space manufacturing.” Despite delays, but with what some may say was a relatively quick imple- mentation, almost exactly 5 months from that Feb. 13 Joint Statement, the Axiom 4 Dragon Mission to the International Space Station, which included Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, landed back on earth. On July 15, NASA noted, “AxiomMis- sion 4 (Ax-4) splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at 2:31 a.m. PDT Tuesday ending a 20-day spaceflight that saw the private astronauts perform critical microgravity research aboard the International Space Station. Veteran astronaut PeggyWhitson, who has accumulated 695 days in space over five missions, led Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla and Mission Specialists Sławosz Uznaski-Winiewski and Tibor Kapu back to Earth aboard the SpaceX Dragon space- craft.” ISRO called the collaborative mission “a vital stepping stone in building India’s own crewed mission operations infra- structure, enhancing readiness for future indigenous human spaceflight programs such as Gaganyaan and the Bhartiya An- tariksha Station.” On its website, ISRO has a blow-by- blow account of Shukla’s 20 days on ISS, including his adaptability, his experi- ments, and the outreach to students in India. On his return, Shukla began undergo- ing a seven-day structured post-mission medical evaluation and recovery protocol under the supervision of Axiom Space and ISRO flight surgeons. That program includes cardiovascular assessments, musculoskeletal tests, and psychological debriefs aimed at ensuring full physiologi- cal recovery and data capture for future missions. Throughout the Axiom-04 mission, as part of India’s participation a dedicated ISRO high-level delegation and Mission Operations Team was deployed to Ken- nedy Space Centre, Florida, which was led by the Chairman, ISRO and the Secretary, Department of Space, Dr. V Narayanan. The delegation participated in the launch operations, ISRO noted on its website. Initially, the launch was rescheduled multiple times due to technical issues including oxygen leakage in booster stage engine bay. “On insistence of ISRO team, oxygen leakage issue was fully resolved leading to safe &successful launch,” ISRO said. Later, the delegation moved to the Johnson Space Center, Houston, to join in the docking operations. The Mission operations team contin- ued to stay in Houston, ISRO said, “gain- ing invaluable first-hand experience in managing human spaceflight operations.” The team was embedded alongside NASA and Axiom flight controllers, par- ticipating in real-time decision-making, telemetry tracking, crew timeline man- agement, and health monitoring of both the astronaut and the science payloads. “This exposure provided critical insights into international crewed mis- sion coordination, emergency response protocols, and the complexities of orbital operations,” ISRO noted. NASA in one of its press releases noted that during the Axiom-04 Mission, the two space agencies participated in five joint science investigations and two in-orbit science, technology, engineering, and mathematics demonstrations. The Dragon spacecraft was expected to return to earth with more than 580 pounds of cargo, including NASA hardware and data from over 60 experiments conducted through- out the mission. The Axiom-04 Mission collaboration is the pinnacle of US-India space research cooperation which has a much longer history. As NASA noted, “NASA and ISRO have a long-standing relationship built on a shared vision to advance scientific knowledge and expand space collabora- tion.” NASA also noted that the collaboration between the two space agencies, allowed AxiomMission 4 “to deliver on a commit- ment highlighted by President Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to send the first ISRO astronaut to the sta- tion. By Ela Dutt PHOTO:NASA The Axiom Mission 4 and Expedition 73 crews join together for a group portrait inside the International Space Station’s Harmony module. In the front row (from left) are Ax-4 crewmates Tibor Kapu, Peggy Whitson, Shubhanshu Shukla, and Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski with Expedition 73 crewmates Anne McClain and Takuya Onishi. In the rear are, Expedition 73 crewmates Alexey Zubritskiy, Kirill Peskov, Sergey Ryzhikov, Jonny Kim, and Nichole Ayers. PHOTOS:@ISRO.GOV.IN Indian Space Research Organization’s mission operation team for Axiom-04 and NASA collaboration, poses for a photo at the Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX. ISRO delegation led by India’s Secretary, Department of Space Dr. V. Narayanan, at the Johnson Space Center.