New Delhi, June 9 -- Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla once said Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, India's first astronaut, has impressed him and has been his idol. Sharma travelled to space in 1984. "I was born in 1985...I grew up reading about him in textbooks and listening to his stories from space. I was deeply deeply impressed by him," Shukla said.

Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, an Indian Air Force officer, will become the second Indian astronaut to be in space and the first to join the International Space Station. Shukla will pilot the Axiom Mission-4, which is scheduled to launch into space on June 10 (5:52 pm IST).

He will launch aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft along with three other crew me...