Jubilant Indians have been celebrating the successful launch of the Axiom-4 (Ax-4) mission which has taken off with a multi-country crew, including an Indian astronaut.

Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, who’s piloting the mission, has become only the second Indian to travel to space.

In just over 26 hours – when the spacecraft docks at the International Space Station (ISS) – Group Captain Shukla will become the first ever Indian to visit Nasa’s orbiting laboratory.

His trip comes 41 years after cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to fly to space aboard a Russian Soyuz in 1984.

Led by former Nasa astronaut Peggy Whitson – a space veteran who has been commander of ISS twice, has spent more than 675 days in space and done 10 space walks – Ax-4 lifted off from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 02:31 EDT, (06:31 GMT; 12:01 India time) on Wednesday.

The trip to ISS aboard Ax-4 – a commercial flight operated by Houston-based private company Axiom Space – is a collaboration between Nasa, India’s space agency Isro, European Space Agency (Esa) and SpaceX.

Its four-member team also includes Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary. They will also be taking their countries back to space after more than four decades. The astronauts spent weeks in quarantine before Wednesday’s launch.

The flight has generated huge interest in India with Isro saying the experience Group Captain Shukla will gain during his trip to the ISS will help its efforts immensely.

The 39-year-old was among four Indian air force officers shortlisted last year to travel on the country’s first-ever human space flight, scheduled for 2027. India has also announced ambitious plans to set up a space station by 2035 and send an astronaut to the Moon by 2040.

Isro, which has been carrying out a number of tests to prepare for going into space, has paid 5bn rupees ($59m; £43m) to secure a seat for Group Captain Shukla on Ax-4 and his training.

Within minutes of take off, Group Captain Shukla had a message for India.

“We’re back in space after 41 years and what an amazing ride it’s been,” he said.

“Right now, we are orbiting Earth at a speed of 750km per second. On my shoulder, I carry the Indian flag. This is not the start of my journey to the ISS, this is the beginning of India’s human spaceflight. I welcome all my fellow Indians to be a part of this journey and feel proud and excited.”

What will he be doing on Ax-4?
Besides piloting the mission, the Indian astronaut will have a busy schedule during his two weeks on ISS.

Considering the huge interest in the flight, Isro has said they are organising events for him to interact with Indian students and answer their questions while floating in space. An interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also on the cards.

But most of the time, the four-member crew will be conducting 60 scientific experiments, seven of which come from India.

Former Nasa scientist Mila Mitra says Isro’s experiments will help improve our understanding of space and its effects on biology and micro-gravity.

One of the key experiments, she explains, will investigate the impact of spaceflight on six varieties of crop seeds.

Another Isro experiment involves growing three strains of microalgae which could be used as food, fuel or even in life support systems and this will help identify the most suitable ones for growing in microgravity, she says.

The Isro projects will also investigate how tardigrades – micro-animals on Earth that can survive extreme environments – would fare in space.

The other experiments aim to identify how muscle loss occurs in space and how it can be treated; and the physical and cognitive impact of using computer screens in microgravity.