Astronaut becomes first Indian to set foot on ISS

Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla has created history by becoming the first Indian ever to set foot on the International Space Station (ISS).

A live broadcast showed the Axiom-4 (Ax-4) mission docking with the orbiting laboratory and its four-member crew crossing over to the ISS.

Led by former Nasa veteran Peggy Whitson and piloted by Group Captain Shukla, Ax-4 lifted off on Wednesday. The crew, including Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary, will spend two weeks on the ISS.

Group Captain Shukla is only the second Indian to travel to space. His trip comes 41 years after cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to fly aboard a Russian Soyuz in 1984.

Ax-4 - a commercial flight operated by Houston-based private firm Axiom Space - lifted off from Nasa's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 02:31 EDT (06:31 GMT; 12:01 India time) on Wednesday.

The docking on Thursday occurred at 06:31EDT (10:31 GMT; 16:01 India time). A pressurised vestibule was created between the spacecraft and the space station and then hatches were opened on both sides to allow the Ax-4 crew to make their way on board the ISS.

The mission is a collaboration between Nasa, India's space agency Isro, European Space Agency (Esa) and SpaceX. The two European astronauts will also be taking their countries back to space after more than four decades.

During their two-week mission, the crew would spend most of their time conducting 60 scientific experiments, including seven designed by Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro).

Isro, which has paid 5bn rupees ($59m; £43m) to secure a seat for Group Captain Shukla on Ax-4 and his training, says the hands-on experience he will gain during his trip to the ISS will help India in its human space flights.