India, April 18 -- India will send an astronaut to space next month, a feat to be repeated 40 years after Rakesh Sharma's iconic 1984 flight aboard a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft, Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh said on Friday. Singh said Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla of the Indian Air Force is all prepared to fly to the International Space Station (ISS) next month as part of Axiom Space's Ax-4 mission.

"India is ready for its next space milestone," said Singh, underscoring the significance of the upcoming human spaceflight and a series of critical ISRO missions. He said the mission will mark the visit of the first Indian to the ISS and make Shukla the first Indian to travel into space in over four decades ...