Article: The country is waiting for Shukla ji’s spacewalk, why is Shubhanshu Shukla’s space journey special after Rakesh Sharma?

Author: Chandrabhushan
The year 2024 was very important for space research in some respects and some of the stories started in it will continue this year also. The training of Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and his/her substitute Group Captain Prashant Nair continues as part of the joint operation Axiom-4 between the world’s four powerful space agencies – India’s ISRO, America’s NASA, Japan’s JAXA and European Union’s ESA. Is. This group of four latest astronauts will leave for the International Space Station in April or shortly thereafter. Shubhanshu will be the second Indian citizen to travel into space after Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma in 1984.indians in space
Rakesh Sharma had achieved this feat with the help of Russia and his/her intervention in space was like that of a spectator for a short time. But, Shubhanshu Shukla is going to conduct some concrete experiments in the International Space Station under a joint mission of space agencies. ISRO’s Gaganyaan mission will directly benefit from his/her experience. he/she has to spend 14 days in the space station and during this time he/she also has to do observations related to five experiments.

Sunita got stuck
In June 2024, Sunita Williams went to the space station for only 8 days on behalf of the American company Boeing. Experienced space pilot Butch Wilmore was also there. The company was testing its first manned spacecraft, but shortly before docking with the space station, the vehicle’s fuel tank leaked and the thruster rockets began to fail. Somehow the spacecraft was docked. Since then both the pilots are stuck in the International Space Station. If everything goes well, they will be able to return to Earth only at the end of March this year.

market angle
It is true that the calendar of space programs is very tight, but it is not that Sunita and Butch could not have been brought back in between. The only matter is that America currently does not have any government vehicle to reach the space station, whereas the Boeing Company’s confidence in the strength of its vehicles has been shaken. The company also does not want to tarnish its reputation in the market by taking help from Space-X or any other private company. In a way, this whole mess is exposing the problems of privatization of space programs in America.

US dependent on companies
Polaris Dawn in 2024 was considered a major success in American space science. This space flight was operated by Elon Musk’s company SpaceX. This was a completely private flight for hire and in this, Jared Isaacman, CEO of Swift-4 company along with the crew members traveled in space. After going 1400 kilometers above the earth, he/she also got a chance to do a space walk. One such extraordinary success was also achieved last year by a company named Intuitive Machines for America. It ensured the soft landing of an American spacecraft on the Moon half a century after Apollo-17. Odysseus landed on the moon on January 17, 2024 and bid farewell on August 23. During this time, he/she also completed the work of NASA which he/she got for 120 million dollars.

private mission
NASA has also placed similar expectations from a company named Firefly, which is preparing to land its lander named Blue Ghost on the Moon. It has to land some NASA equipment on the moon. Through these, the effect of solar flares and Earth’s magnetism on the Moon is to be studied. This vehicle has to drill seven feet on the surface of the moon to understand how heat and solar radiation spread. NASA says that before sending its team to the Moon, it wants to understand its surface properly with the help of private companies. In this, all the risk will be with these companies, NASA will only pay to deliver its parcel there.

Chinese campaign
China’s Tiananmen-2 spacecraft, present in the Earth’s orbit, is leaving to send 100 grams of sample from Kamolewa, an irregular rock located at a distance of one million kilometers from it. It will then visit a main-belt comet and send samples from there also in the mid-2030s. The European Space Agency will test its heavy lift rocket Ariane-6 and try to maintain its position in space transport.

to the sun
Among the older space missions, Solar Probe Parker, which set out in 2018 to understand solar flares, is to end its story in 2025. It made the record of reaching a distance of only 61 lakh kilometers from the Sun on 24th December. Its two final plunges in March and June will further humanity’s understanding of its star.