700-1000 hours of training: India spends this whopping amount on Shubhanshu Shukla for Axiom-4 mission, Rakesh Sharma's expense was Rs...

The Axiom-4 mission has been delayed but Group captain Shubhanshu Shukla of Axiom-4 mission is all set to travel to the International Space Station (ISS) on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 to become the first Indian Gaganyatri to ISS. Aboard the ISS Shukla will conduct research in zero gravity. India is part of the Axiom Space's Ax-4 mission in collaboration with NASA, which is a historic moment as this is Axiom Space's fourth private astronaut mission. India has made a contract with the agency and has invested USD 70 million, that is, approximately Rs 538 crore in the project.  

Some reports say that this investment is given as part of Shubhanshu Shukla's training and or his backup Group Captain Prashant Balakrishnan Nair. For this mission, Shubhanshu Shukla trained 700-1000 hours, with help from NASA, SpaceX, ESA, and JAXA.  

These funds are used for the collaboration between India and Axiom Space, NASA, and SpaceX to make the mission successful. This amount is also more than what US and British companies like Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic have invested. The Axiom 4 mission is a part of ISRO’s astronaut training program.  

How much India funded on Rakesh Sharma? 

Shubhanshu Shukla will be the second astronaut from India to go to space. Rakesh Sharma made history by becoming India’s first astronaut in space and wrote his name in golden letters in history of India’s space flight. Rakesh Sharma went to space in 1984 as part of the Indo-Soviet space mission aboard the Soyuz T-11 spacecraft. His space stay was around 8 days for which India did not pay anything and the cost of the entire mission was borne by the Soviet Union.   

The Axiom space mission was earlier scheduled to be launched on June 11, however after a fault regarding a liquid oxygen (LOx) leak was found, the agency cited the need for additional time to repair. The Ax-4 crew includes members from India, Poland, and Hungary, marking each nation's first mission to the space station in history and the second government-sponsored human spaceflight mission in over 40 years, according to Axiom Space. Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla will be India's second national astronaut to go to space since 1984.