Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, broadcasting stay from the Worldwide Area Station (ISS), at present unveiled a particular companion on board the Axiom Mission 4: a tender toy swan named “Pleasure,” who turned out to be far more than merely a Zero-G indicator.
Throughout a stay webcast, Group Captain Shukla, flying Axiom Mission 4, described his expertise entering into area. He began his speech with the standard Indian greeting of “Namaste” earlier than confessing to his pre-launch jitters. As he spoke, the white swan toy floated calmly earlier than him, performing its sole perform as a microgravity visible reminder.
“We demonstrated to you, Pleasure and Grace. You perceive that it is a swan; it’s fairly cute-looking, however now we have a really important swan in our Indian tradition,” Shukla stated, holding up the stuffed toy. “The swan is all about knowledge. It can also distinguish… what to focus on and what’s not.”
#WATCH | “Namaskar from area! I’m thrilled to be right here with my fellow astronauts. What a journey it was,” says Indian astronaut Group Captain Subhanshu, who’s piloting #AxiomMission4, as he offers particulars about his journey into area.
Carrying a tender toy Swan, he says, in Indian… pic.twitter.com/Z09Mkxhfdj
— ANI (@ANI) June 26, 2025
He continued, “So this implies much more. It isn’t a Zero-G indicator solely. And I feel all of us carry some symbolism – in Poland, in Hungary, in India too. So I feel it seems to be a coincidence however it’s not that. It has extra significance.”
Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, an Indian Air Drive officer, took off on this mission yesterday. Axiom Mission 4 was launched on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft from Launch Advanced 39A of NASA’s Kennedy Area Centre in Florida at 2:31 AM Japanese Time (12 Midday IST) on Wednesday. He’s serving in a global crew led by Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut and Axiom Area director of human spaceflight. European Area Company mission astronaut Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary are included within the mission.
A Zero-G indicator is an merchandise that’s put in inside a spacecraft and can begin to drift when the automobile goes into microgravity, offering visible assurance of weightlessness to each the crew and mission management. For “Pleasure,” the swan now has a big cultural message along with its purposeful function, representing India’s presence and knowledge throughout the orbital station.