Indian Astronaut's 'Swan' Soft Toy And A Goddess Saraswati Connection

When the Falcon-9 rocket lifts off from Florida's Kennedy Space Centre on June 10, it will carry more than four astronauts and research gear into low Earth orbit. With them will be a small, cuddly, soft toy - a swan.

At a pre-flight virtual press conference, the Axiom-4 crew unveiled the mission's zero-gravity indicator, a traditional token carried onboard by astronauts to visually signal the moment the spacecraft reaches orbit and enters weightlessness. This time, the indicator is a swan doll named 'Joy'. It broadly represents the vehicle on which the Hindu goddess of knowledge, Saraswati, travels. Joy is white in colour like a swan and has a black and yellow beak and is the size of one's palm.

Each member of the four-person international crew contributed to selecting the swan as a unifying cultural symbol. For Group Captain Shukla, it carries deep religious and philosophical significance.

"Swan is believed to have the rare ability to separate milk from water, representing purity, wisdom and grace. Carrying this symbol reminds me of the delicate balance between knowledge and pressure, and it keeps me grounded in the values I hold dear. I feel inspired, fully prepared and confident as I embark on this journey," Mr Shukla said.

Astronaut Peggy Whitson, the Commander of the Axiom Mission which is also referred to as Mission Akash Ganga said, "The doll will float freely inside the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule as a marker of microgravity for cameras and the crew. More than just a companion, Joy will signal our arrival in microgravity shortly after launch. Joy represents the shared aspirations of three nations united in their return to human space flight. The swan is rich in cultural symbolism, stands for wisdom in India, resilience in Poland, and grace in Hungary. Through Joy, we'll celebrate our diversity and our unity in the shared journey of space exploration."

"I call upon every 'Bharatvasi' to join us, participate, engage and dream boldly about the future," Group Captain Shukla said at a press conference.

The Axiom-4 mission was originally scheduled for launch on May 29. It was subsequently rescheduled to June 8 and is now confirmed for June 10 at 5:52 pm IST. Axiom Space confirmed the new schedule during the virtual media briefing, citing readiness of the rocket being delayed due to weather conditions.

The mission, operated by Texas-based Axiom Space in partnership with SpaceX and NASA, will transport four astronauts, Mission Commander Peggy Whitson (US), Mission Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla (India), and mission specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski (Poland) and Tibor Kapu (Hungary) to the International Space Station (ISS) for a two-week stay.

Group Captain Shukla becomes only the second Indian to fly into space, 41 years after Rakesh Sharma's 1984 mission aboard the Soviet Soyuz T-11. He also becomes the first Indian citizen to participate in an international, commercially funded human spaceflight mission involving scientific experiments co-developed with multiple Indian agencies.

For Poland and Hungary, the flight marks the first time either nation has sent an astronaut to the ISS.