Before the major launch at NASA Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, group captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the Indian pilot on board Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) on his way to space, posted his favourite song. In his launch-day playlist, he selected the well-known Bollywood song Yuh Hi Chala Chal, arranged by Shah Rukh Khan in his 2004 movie Swades.
Telling this thrilling point, he confided, “Yuh Hi Chala Chal is my favourite song.”
It is an inspirational song in the movie during which the character played by SRK travels in the countryside. It also motivates individuals to move on in life and continue doing what they do best. It is based on music composed by an Oscar-winner AR Rahman with lyrics composed by Javed Akhtar and vocals by Udit Narayan, Kailash Kher and Hariharan.
Swades is a film that explains how a NASA scientist travels back to India in search of the nanny who brought him up. However, he finds his place in the village of Charanpur instead and realizes the meaning of his life.
On X (previously Twitter), Axiom Space shared the list of the complete Launch Day Playlist with the Ax-4 crew. Whereas Group Captain Shukla opted to pick an iconic Bollywood song, Commander Peggy Whitson rolled out Thunder by Imagine Dragons as her launch song.
Axiom Mission 4 is the fourth commercially developed mission to the International Space Station (ISS) by a private astronaut mission. It has been deployed on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft at 2: 31 am ET (12 Noon IST) in Launch Complex 39A. The docking is scheduled to take place at 7 am ET (4 pm IST) on Thursday, June 26.
The astronauts, when aboard the ISS, will be required to remain there between 7 and 14 days, during which they are to participate in scientific research, outreach activities and commercial ventures. The crew consists of: Peggy Whitson (Former astronaut and mission commander of NASA), Shubhanshu Shukla (A pilot and Indian Air Force officer of the ISRO), Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski (National mission specialist of Poland of the European Space Agency) and Tibor Kapu (National mission specialist of Hungary).
The astronauts will be operating within the new AxEMU spacesuits which are the advanced suits built to be utilized in future space missions such as the Moon mission by NASA. These suits are designed to be durable, safe, and comfortable for any form of astronaut.
This mission will further execute the most scientific work ever conducted on an Axiom Space flight to date. The astronauts will conduct approximately 60 science experiments and activities in 31 countries including India, USA, Poland, Hungary, UAE, Nigeria, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia among others in Europe.
NASA and ISRO are collaborating on various scientific ventures in this undertaking as well.
