Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla stands on the cusp of history as he prepares to set off on a space odyssey, marking India`s return to space flight 41 years after his idol Rakesh Sharma orbited the earth for eight days as part of Soviet Union`s Interkosmos programme.

Lucknow-born Shukla, who goes by the call sign `Shuks`, is part of an ISRO-NASA supported commercial spaceflight by Axiom Space which is expected to lift off for a 14-day sojourn to the International Space Station from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Wednesday evening.

A Group Captain in the Indian Air Force, Shukla was selected to be part of India`s astronaut corps in 2019 along with fellow officers Prasanth Balkrishnan Nair, Angad Pratap and Ajit Krishnan for the Gaganyaan mission which is likely to be launched in 2027.