Sprouting moong to exploring microgravity: What ISRO astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla will do aboard the ISS

Indian astronaut Group Captain, Shubhanshu Shukla is all set to fly to the International Space Station (ISS) on May 29th, 2025. He is a part of the Axiom Mission-4 (Ax-4) which is a joint effort by NASA, ISRO and ESA. Shukla will be joined by three other astronauts- Peggy Whitson from the US, Tibor Kapu from Hungary and Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski from Poland on a mission to understand life in space and how it affects different beings such as humans and plants. The mission will include some key experiments that the team of four will be focusing on as a part of the larger aim. Find out what these are below!

One of the seven experiments that are a part of the team's tasks is to analyse if salad seeds such as green gram (moong) and fenugreek (methi), will sprout and grow in space. It will focus on how plants change over generations, how microbes in space affect them and if they carry with them the same nutritional value as on Earth. The task is a part of the larger research going on to experiment and see if astronauts can grow their own food in space in the near future.
Myogenesis is the process by which muscle tissues form and regenerate. In space, under the microgravity, this biological process gets disrupted leading to as much as 30% loss of muscle in astronauts. Shukla's mission is also tasked with figuring out how the muscles react to microgravity and if interventions like supplements can help in the process.
Water bacteria, also known as cyanobacteria, make the use of sunlight to grow and are known for making oxygen. The astronauts aboard ISS will be studying the process of their growth, how their cells react and if they can be used to create oxygen in the spacecraft.

The creation of food in space has been a major objective of research for NASA. Recently, astronauts on the ISS tried creating popular Japanese sauce Miso on the spacecraft which, according to the results, tasted different and better than on Earth. Now, astronauts will be trying to grow micro-algae which are tiny plant-like organisms on the spacecraft. If grown well in space, these can be used as food due to them being rich in proteins and nutrients and could be a part of the food supplies during long missions.
Water bears or tardigrades are tiny creatures that can survive extreme temperatures and even space. Scientists want to analyse if they can survive in space for longer periods and if they can reproduce microgravity. The experiment can help survive long trips and can even guide biotech uses on Earth.

Another task of the purposeful mission is to analyse the interaction of astronauts in space with computers and screens. It will study how astronauts make use of technology while floating, particularly focusing on the movement of their hands and eyes, their focus and if they feel any stress while using digital systems in different environments.
These tasks are vital in analysing the sustenance of human presence in space.