Axiom Mission 4: Shubhanshu Shukla takes a bit of Bollywood along as he makes his journey into space

As Astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla made his journey into space on Wednesday, he had Bollywood for company. Shukla launched aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 spacecraft with the Crew Dragon capsule as part of the Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4), lifting off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

While the whole world watched Axiom Mission 4 launch successfully into space, Shukla had a bit of home to keep him company in his historic flight.

The Indian Air Force test pilot’s playlist during lift-off featured the beloved film song Yun Hi Chala Chal Rahi from the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer movie Swades (2003). The song has been sung by Udit Narayan, Hariharan, and Kailash Kher, with lyrics by Javed Akhtar and music by AR Rahman.

SpaceX shared this unique detail on X, alongside the playlists of other crew members: Mission Commander Peggy Whitson's Thunder by Imagine Dragons, Sławosz Uznański's Supermoce, and Tibor Kapu's Búvóhely.

The song Yun Hi Chala Chal Rahi is a journey song, which tells that life is a journey and one must keep marching on. The song features SRK and Makrand Deshpande.

Watch the song here:

What is the Axiom-4 mission?

Shukla has made history by becoming only the second Indian to go to space. The trip is happening aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 Dragon capsule. India has paid space company Axiom a whopping $70 million for a seat to the International Space Station. That is nearly Rs 599 crore. Axiom-4 is carrying around 60 scientific studies from 31 countries to the ISS. Rakesh Sharma was the last Indian to fly to space aboard a Soyuz T-11 on 3 April 1984 as part of the Soviet Interkosmos programme.