Hungary’s Tibor Kapu (from left), India’s Shubhanshu Shukla, Axiom’s Peggy Whitson, and Poland’s Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski comprise the crew of Axiom Mission 4. [Courtesy: SpaceX]

Shubhanshu Shukla, an Indian Air Force (IAF) officer and ISRO astronaut, has been selected as the pilot for Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4), a private spaceflight set to launch to the International Space Station (ISS) in the spring of 2025, NASA announced on Thursday.

A spokesperson with NASA, which oversees SpaceX’s flights to the ISS, said “NASA and SpaceX are expeditiously working to safely return the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore as soon as practical, while also preparing for the launch of Crew-10 to complete a handover between expeditions.”

NASA astronauts Sunita "Suni" Williams and Barry "Butch" Wilmore have been on the International Space Station since June, even though they initially expected to stay for just eight days. They'll be back on Earth in late March.

Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla and Indian Air Force (IAF) officer who was recently chosen as the 'Prime' astronaut for Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Gaganyaan mission, has been selected as the pilot for Axiom Mission 4,

IAF group captain Shubhanshu Shukla is designated as pilot of the Axiom Mission 4 to the International Space Station (ISS).