India is brimming with pride after Shubhanshu Shukla became the first astronaut from the country to blast off to the International Space Station (ISS) Wednesday, in a boost to the South Asian giant’s bid to become a space power.

ISRO's astronaut Shukla, along with mission commander Peggy Whitson and mission specialists Tibor Kapu of Hundary and Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland, were welcomed by Expedition 73 commander Takuya Onishi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and six others.

India's Shubhanshu Shukla, accompanied by three other astronauts, entered the International Space Station, marking the first time since Rakesh Sharma in 1984 that an Indian astronaut reached space. The Axiom-4 mission,