India, June 25 -- Astronaut and Indian Air Force (IAF) Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla became the first from the South Asian country to travel to space in 40 years as the Axiom-4 Mission was launched from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday after multiple delays.

Shukla piloted a SpaceX Dragon aircraft which was launched for the space expedition.

He is accompanied by mission specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski (Poland), Tibor Kapu (Hungary) and Commander Peggy Whitson (United States).

Earlier, Indian astronaut Rakesh Sharma spent eight days in orbit as a part of the Soviet mission to Space in 1984.

Shukla, who hails from the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, is a fighter pilot for 15 years....