SpaceX CEO Elon Musk voices strong support for the H1B visa program, highlighting the immense benefit the US has derived from Indian talent and cautioning against shutting it down.
India is set to take its first steps towards its own human space flight when the uncrewed Gaganyaan mission soars to the skies later this year. Private players in the space sector are also gearing up for launching satellites on home-built rockets.
SpaceX launched a reduced two-man crew to the International Space Station on Saturday, carrying supplies and two empty seats for Starliner astronauts awaiting a return home in February after an unplanned eight-and-a-half-month stay in orbit, CBS News reported.
Despite exploding three minutes into the flight, SpaceX described the mission as a success -- because the spacecraft had gotten off the launchpad and fulfilled the primary purpose of the test-flight.
SpaceX said it would attempt the first launch of its Starship rocket system on Thursday, April 20, after a launch attempt on Monday, April 17, had to be scrubbed due to issues with the launch vehicle's first stage.
Despite the failure, Musk emphasised that the mission yielded valuable data and outlined an accelerated launch schedule going forward.
'ISRO recommended to carry out in-situ repairs or replacement and conduct a low-temperature leak test to validate system performance and integrity, before proceeding with launch.'
Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and three others are expected to travel to the International Space Station on June 19, after SpaceX successfully resolved the liquid oxygen leak in its Falcon-9 rocket, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced on Saturday.
Anil Menon, the latest to join the list of American astronauts with Indian roots, will fly to the International Space Station in June 2026 as a flight engineer.
Minutes after taking off from a launch pad in South Texas, the rocket appears to have exploded above the Gulf of Mexico.
NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX are now targeting 12.01 PM (IST), Wednesday, June 25, for launch of the fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, Axiom Mission 4, NASA said.
The rocket flight was aborted in order to plug the liquid oxygen leak identified during post-static fire Falcon 9 rocket inspections.
SpaceX's Falcon-9 rocket was scheduled to blast off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Tuesday evening.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has put off Sunday's launch of the Axiom-4 mission carrying Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and three others to the International Space Station and a new date will be announced in the coming days.
After being marooned in space for nine months, Astronaut Sunita Williams is back on earth along with her fellow astronaut Butch Wilmore.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Dragon capsule was launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying four crew members to the International Space Station.
Meanwhile, Musk said some parts of the ISS were "simply getting too old and obviously that risk grows over time."
The White House accredited this feat to President Donald Trump and Elon Musk for their efforts
Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and three others were getting ready for their journey to the International Space Station on board SpaceX's Falcon-9 rocket that is scheduled to blast off from the Kennedy Space Centre (KSC) in Florida on Tuesday evening.
On Thursday, NASA announced that it was working with Roscosmos to understand a new pressure signature, after the recent post-repair effort in the aft-most segment of the International Space Station's Zvezda service module.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will launch no earlier than September 24, on the agency's SpaceX Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station.
The mission was originally scheduled for lift-off on May 29 but was put off multiple times when engineers detected a liquid oxygen leak in the boosters of the Falcon-9 rocket and NASA also detected leaks in the ageing Russian module of the ISS.
The spacecraft, Elon Musk-led SpaceX's Dragon, will splash down off the coast of the American state of Florida around 3:27 am IST Wednesday.
Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla's Axiom-4 mission to the International Space Station has been postponed to June 22, to allow National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to evaluate the operations on the orbital lab after the recent repairs in the Russian section, Axiom Space announced on Wednesday.
'The launch of Axiom 04 slated for 11th June 2025 for sending first Indian Gaganyatri to ISS is postponed.'
NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, stranded at the International Space Station for over nine months, will return to Earth on Tuesday evening, NASA announced in a statement.
Following the postponement of the Axiom 4 mission, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla's father, Shambhu Dayal Shukla, said that his family is 'mentally' prepared for the mission.
If Rakesh Sharma represented the dreams of a nascent India looking outward, Shubhanshu Shukla embodies a confident India reaching for the controls.
Shukla, who goes by the nickname "Shux", will be the second Indian to travel to space, 41 years after his idol Rakesh Sharma undertook a spaceflight in 1984 onboard erstwhile Soviet Union's Soyuz spacecraft for an eight-day stay in orbit.
The Lucknow-born Shukla, former NASA astronaut Mission Commander Peggy Whitson, Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland, and Tibor Kapu of Hungary are part of the Axiom-4 mission that marks the return to space for the three nations.
Isaacman's removal comes just days after Elon Musk's official departure from the White House, where the SpaceX CEO was serving in the role of a "special government employee" leading the Department of Government Efficiency.
SpaceX, National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) and Axiom Space are closely watching weather patterns at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida where Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and three others look forward to their travel to the International Space Station (ISS), now scheduled for Wednesday.
Trump on Friday said he would pay out of his pockets the overtime for astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams, who returned to Earth this week after spending nine months in space.
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.
Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and the Axiom-4 mission crew safely returned to Earth after an 18-day stay at the International Space Station, splashing down off the coast of San Diego.
Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore have been stranded on the International Space Station since June 2024.
Axiom-4 mission to the International Space Station, piloted by Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla with three other crew members, has been delayed and will now be launched from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on June 8 at 6:41 pm IST.
As Sunita Williams returns to Earth after nine months on the International Space Station, actors R Madhavan and Jackie Shroff joined the world in welcoming her back.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and SpaceX on Wednesday scrubbed the launch attempt of the agency's Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station due to a 'hydraulic system issue with a ground support clamp arm for the Falcon 9 rocket at Launch Complex 39A' at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
India took another leap in space infrastructure with the foundation stone laid for a new launch pad at the country's second rocket port in Kulasekarapattinam.
