Video: Shubhanshu Shukla, Axiom crew leave quarantine, enter Dragon capsule

India Today

The video shows the Axiom-4 crew, including Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, exiting quarantine and boarding the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule ahead of their mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Scheduled to launch shortly from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, the mission marks a historic milestone — Shukla becomes the second Indian astronaut to travel to space and the first to visit the ISS.

Transcript

00:00Right now, the news is that Falcon 9 is ready for a takeoff.

00:04Let's take a listen.

00:05Before they get on board today.

00:06Peggy's is gold, as I see.

00:08Yes, you'll notice that Peggy's indicates that she is a frequent flyer with us here at SpaceX.

00:12Then, of course, our crew has the opportunity to sign the wall in the White Room,

00:16as all the astronauts who have launched from that tower have before them.

00:20And then one by one, they ingress or enter the spacecraft.

00:24Got some great views here of them hugging this team goodbye.

00:27And as you mentioned earlier, Paul, they've been working together with these teams here

00:30for the last 10 months, preparing for today.

00:34You're right.

00:35So much of that is not just the work that they're going to do on station,

00:40but a lot of that is also just this moment, rehearsing with their closeout crew

00:45to prepare for getting into Dragon.

00:47And all of these steps have been rehearsed a time and time again.

00:50There they are, exiting the Falcon support building,

00:52which is just about a half mile away from the launch pad.

00:55Then, of course, they get into the Tesla caravan together to go to launch complex 39A.

01:01You can see them moving into the Teslas there.

01:04We do, of course, divide the crew into two sets.

01:07So you're seeing some of our SpaceX support ninjas in the background there.

01:11Very excited crew on their way over to 39A.

01:14Once they reach the base of the tower,

01:17they do stop to take in Falcon 9 and Dragon,

01:19which is always my favorite shot,

01:21is getting to see this crew see their spacecraft for the first time in their suit

01:25on the lead up to launch.

01:27Here they are walking across the crew access arm before ingressing or entering.

01:33Here you are.

01:33You can see we've got our SpaceX team is checking the boarding passes of our crew

01:37before they get on board today.

01:39Peggy's is gold, as I see.

01:40Yes, you'll notice that Peggy's indicates that she is a frequent flyer with us here at SpaceX.

01:45Then, of course, our crew has the opportunity to sign the wall in the white room

01:49as all the astronauts who have launched from that tower have before them.

01:52And then one by one, they ingress or enter the spacecraft.

01:57Got some great views here of them hugging this team goodbye.

02:00And as you mentioned earlier, Paul,

02:01they've been working together with these teams here for the last 10 months preparing for today.

02:05You're right.

02:08So much of that is not just the work that they're going to do on station,

02:13but a lot of that is also just this moment,

02:15rehearsing with their closeout crew to prepare for getting into Dragon.

02:20And all of these steps have been rehearsed time and time again.

02:23Akshita also tracking that story very, very closely.

02:26Akshita, this is, of course, Mission Akash Ganga.

02:29And it's a perfect example of U.S.-India cooperation when it comes to space.

02:36You know, this is a mission that everyone really has their eyes on.

02:39I mean, 1.4 billion hearts really beating for Siwansha Shukla today, isn't it?

02:45Now, how exciting is this, Neha, that we're seeing this moment

02:48and these images of Group Captain Shukla seated there inside the capsule.

02:52It's a very small space, as you can make out.

02:55They all had to duck in and enter.

02:56But seated right next to Group Captain Shukla, to his left, is the mission commander, Peggy Whitson.

03:02And that itself tells you you're the scheme of things.

03:04Essentially, you've got the mission commander, Peggy Whitson.

03:07The number two is clearly Group Captain Shukla because he's the pilot.

03:10And then you have the two mission specialists as well.

03:13So it's an important mission, but you can see that the mood is clearly high.

03:17They're excited.

03:18All of them ready in their suits.

03:20It took about an hour or so for them to get suited up, stepped out.

03:24And then there was that amazing moment where they all held their fists up in the air,

03:28celebrating this moment, just soaking it all in.

03:31Remember that they've been in quarantine for the last one month, Neha.

03:34So the kind of exposure they've had to the outside world, to people, has been very limited.

03:39Which is why even in that moment where you saw them stepping out, meeting their families one last time,

03:44it was very limited interactions that were allowed.

03:47I can tell you that the press who was present there, we were told to be at a 50 feet distance away from them

03:53to ensure minimum exposure.

03:55And that's how sensitive this kind of a mission is.

03:58Even while they're entering into the capsule, at the very last stretch where you have Axiom personnel,

04:03SpaceX personnel, getting them set for the mission, they're fully covered up.

04:07They've got their faces covered up.

04:08All of that done with the reason to ensure that these astronauts are not exposed at the nth minute.

04:13And they traveled essentially in two vehicles, again very symbolically in Tesla vehicles.

04:18You had the two mission specialists together, Group Captain Shukla,

04:21along with Mission Commander Peggy Whitson in another car.

04:24That's that moment there.

04:25And it's great, absolutely great to see Group Captain Shukla.

04:29All smiles, looking confident, looking excited.

04:31And as he himself said earlier, Sneha, in a virtual press conference that we had attended about a month ago,

04:37he said, I'm carrying with me certain personal belongings,

04:41but I'm also carrying with me the prayers and hopes of billions of Indians.

04:45And nobody could have put that better than Group Captain Shukla.

04:48So he knows what this mission means for every single Indian.

04:51It makes us so proud to watch these moments as Group Captain Shukla,

04:55along with all the other astronauts, are now in the capsule, ready.

04:59They're seated.

04:59This is the normal protocol that about 90 minutes before they're seated and ready to go,

05:04ready for blast off.

05:05And Ashita, be with us.

05:06We'll just come back to you in a moment.

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