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.

Pilot Shukla is sharing the capsule with four other astronauts as part of a mission by Axiom Space which aims to contribute to microgravity research in areas including human physiology, nutrition, and seed germination in space.

This is the first time in more than 40 years that astronauts from India, Poland and Hungary arrived at the International Space Station.