Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the pilot of the Axiom Mission 4, shared his favourite song ahead of the launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
Unveiling his launch day playlist, the Indian pilot revealed that he loves to listen to Shah Rukh Khan's Swades song Yuh Hi Chala Chal.
The song was composed by A R Rahman, and the lyrics were penned by Javed Akhtar.
The vocals of the song were given by Udit Narayan, Kailash Kher and Hariharan.
In Ashutosh Gowariker's Swades, SRK's character, a NASA scientist returns to his homeland to find the nanny who raised him, intending to bring her back to America. His journey leads him into the rural heart of India, to the village of Charanpur, and sets him on both an outward and inner quest to find where he truly belongs.
Ahead of the launch, Axiom Space shared the Launch Day Playlist of the Axiom Mission 4 crew.
Commander Peggy Whitson has named Thunder by Imagine Dragons her go-to song.
The Axiom Mission 4 launched aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida at 2:31 am Eastern Time (12 noon IST).
This is the fourth private astronaut mission to travel to the International Space Station. The crew is traveling to the orbiting laboratory on a new SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.
The targeted docking time is approximately 7 am Eastern Time (4 pm IST) on Thursday, June 26.
Once docked, the astronauts plan to spend up to 14 days aboard the orbiting laboratory, conducting a mission comprised of science, outreach, and commercial activities.
Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space, is in command of the mission, while Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla 'Shuks' serves as pilot.
The two mission specialists are European Space Agency project astronaut Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.
The astronauts are using the new Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) spacesuit, which provides them with advanced capabilities for space exploration while providing NASA with commercially developed human systems needed to access, live and work on and around the Moon.
The Ax-4 mission will conduct major research and includes around 60 scientific studies and activities representing 31 countries, including the US, India, Poland, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Nigeria, UAE, and nations across Europe.
This will be the most research and science-related activities conducted on an Axiom Space mission aboard the International Space Station to date.
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