From Rakesh Sharma to Shubhanshu Shukla: List of Indian-origin people who made history in space

Indian citizen and Group Captain in the Indian Air Force, Subhanshu Shukla, successfully boarded SpaceX’s Falcon 9 as part of Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) with a four-member international crew including astronauts from the US, Poland, and Hungary. Nearly four decades after Rakesh Sharma, he became another Indian citizen to travel to space as a part of the fourth private mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

Subhanshu Shukla represents India in a science-heavy mission which involves more than 60 experiments from 31 countries. The mission is a joint venture of the ISRO in collaboration with NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). The involvement of Shukla in space lays the scientific preliminaries for the country’s upcoming Gaganyaan mission.

However, there is a list of Indian citizens and Indian-origin people who flew into space on several missions:

Rakesh Sharma

A former Indian Air Force pilot, Rakesh Sharma, flew aboard the Soviet Soyuz T-11 spacecraft on April 3, 1984, as part of the Interkosmos program. During the mission, he spent 7 days, 21 hours, and 40 minutes aboard the Salyut 7 space station, which conducted experiments in biomedicine and remote sensing. He was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union and India’s Ashok Chakra.

Kalpana Chawla

She was born in Karnal, India, and became a US citizen and joined NASA as an astronaut. She boarded the Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-87) in 1997 as a mission specialist, who conducted microgravity and material science experiments. But her second mission (STS-107) in 2003 ended horrendously when the shuttle disintegrated during re-entry, killing all seven crew members. Chawla was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honour. She was the first woman of Indian origin to travel to space.

Sunita Williams

Williams was born and brought up to an Indian-American father, who joined as US Navy officer and later turned to NASA astronaut. She has completed three spaceflights (2006, 2012, 2024) and holds records for the most spacewalks by a woman (7) and the longest spacewalking time by a woman (50 hours, 40 minutes). Williams ran the first marathon in space in 2007 and has served as a flight engineer and commander on the International Space Station (ISS), contributing to numerous experiments.

Raja Chari

A US Air Force brigadier general and NASA astronaut was born to an Indian father who commanded the SpaceX Crew-3 mission to the ISS in 2021–22, spending over 170 days in space. Selected for the Artemis Team of NASA in 2020, he is training for future lunar missions. Raja Chari also performed a spacewalk in 2022, demonstrating quick thinking by fixing a crewmate’s helmet camera.

Sirisha Bandla

Born in Andhra Pradesh, India, Sirisha Bandla is an Indian origin-American aeronautical engineer and Vice President at Virgin Galactic. Bandla flew to the edge of space on the Virgin Galactic Unity 22 mission on July 11, 2021, becoming the third woman of Indian origin in space.

Gopi Thotakura

He was also born in Andhra Pradesh, Thotakura, an entrepreneur and pilot, flew on Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin NS-25 mission in May 2024, a suborbital flight crossing the Kármán line. As part of a six-member crew, he became the first Indian to travel to space as a tourist, carrying a small Indian flag during the mission.

Shubhanshu Shukla

A Group Captain in the Indian Air Force, Shubhanshu Shukla, launched on June 25, 2025, aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 as part of a private spaceflight, Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4). He becomes the second Indian citizen to travel to space, 41 years after Rakesh Sharma. Shukla, trained at NASA, ESA, and JAXA, will spend up to 14 days on the ISS conducting scientific research, including yoga in microgravity, and educational outreach.

Other Indian-origin individuals, like Anil Menon, have been selected as NASA astronaut candidates but have not yet flown to space. In addition, Ravish Malhotra also served as a backup for Rakesh Sharma’s 1984 mission but did not fly.

Meanwhile, Rakesh Sharma and Shubhanshu Shukla are the only Indian citizens on this list, representing ISRO and the Indian Air Force. The others are of Indian descent but held US citizenship before or during their missions.