India is brimming with pride after Shubhanshu Shukla became the first astronaut from the country to blast off to the International Space Station (ISS) Wednesday, in a boost to the South Asian giant’s bid to become a space power.

The 39-year-old, Lucknow-born Shubhanshu Shukla became only the second Indian astronaut to undertake a space flight, 41 years after his icon Rakesh Sharma’s eight-day space odyssey on board the then Soviet Union's Salyut-7 space station in 1984.

The Axiom-4 crew, Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla of India, Mission Specialist Tibor Kapu of Hungary, Commander Peggy Whitson of the U.S., and Mission Specialist Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland, react as they greet their family members before their mission to the International Space Station,