Page 32 - The Indian EYE 053025

Newsmakers of the Week MAY 30, 2025 | The Indian Eye 32

NEWSMAKERS OF THE WEEK

Selected stories about Indian diaspora from our website www.theindianeye.com

SHUBHANSHU SHUKLA SUDEEP REDDY

Ax-4 mission with IAF pilot MSNBC appoints Politico Editor

ISS is delayed to lead Washington Bureau

ndian Air Force Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla-piloted private astro- SNBC, the cable channel said on May 15 that it has appointed Sudeep
naut ‘Axiom Mission 4’ launch to the International Space Station (ISS) has Reddy, who has been Politico’s senior managing editor for the last
Inow been delayed to no later than June 8 this year. Meight years, to lead its new news bureau in Washington, D.C.
Houston-based private space company Axiom Space announced that it is The new bureau, which was announced earlier this year as part of the strat-
now targeting “no earlier than June 8 for the launch of the Ax-4 mission to the egy to strengthen MSNBC’s journalism staff under new president Rebecca Kut-
space station aboard a Space X Dragon capsule on a Falcon 9 rocket from the ler, will be headed by Reddy.
Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, US. Reddy will start working as Washington Bureau Chief, beginning June 16. He
The American space agency NASA also shared an update on the resched- will work under Scott Matthews, senior vice president of newsgathering at MSNBC.
uling of Ax-4 mission. Matthews said, “In this new role, Sudeep will be responsible for building and leading
“After reviewing the Space Station flight schedule, NASA and its partners MSNBC’s Washington Bureau and D.C.-based newsgathering operation, includ-
are shifting launch opportunities for several upcoming missions. The schedule ing establishing a team of reporters to cover every corner of the nation’s capital.”
adjustments provide more time to finalize mission plans, spacecraft readiness, He elaborated further, “Sudeep’s appointment signals the importance of
and logistics.” It said that the mission will be no-earlier than at 9:11 a.m. EDT, original and enterprise reporting for the future of MSNBC. He will lead our
Sunday, June 8 (6.41 pm India Standard Time). Washington team to focus not just on the happenings inside Washington, but
Earlier, NASA had announced that the mission will lift off ‘no earlier than also on how decisions in the capital will impact people across the nation and
May 29, 2025 at 10.33 pm India Time’. Once docked at the ISS, the private as- around the world.”
tronauts plan to spend up to 14 days aboard the orbiting laboratory, conducting MSNBC is getting ready to separate from NBC News later this year as part
a mission comprised of science, outreach, and commercial activities. of Comcast’s strategy to spin off its cable networks. To make up for the NBC
Shukla is set to become the first astronaut from the Indian Space Research News’ journalists, Kutler intends to hire roughly 100 new reporters.
Organisation (ISRO) to visit the station as part of a joint effort between NASA Reddy, who oversaw a group of roughly 150 journalists at Politico, will be in
and the Indian space agency. He will also be India’s second national astronaut charge of MSNBC’s new D.C. unit. Reddy was an adjunct professor at George-
to go to space since 1984. Rakesh Sharma earned the distinction of being the town University from 2014 to 2021 and a reporter and editor at The Wall Street
first Indian to go to space on board Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft in 1984. Journal before joining Politico in 2017.
The IAF pilot who is among the astronauts chosen for ISRO’s Gaganyaan
mission, India’s first human space flight was promoted to group captain in USHA MCFARLING
March 2024. He has 2,000 flight hours on various aircraft, including the Su-30
MKI, MiG-21, MiG-29, Jaguar, Hawk, Dornier, and the An-32. MIT names director of Knight
Meanwhile, apart from Shukla, the Ax-4 mission also carries two mission
specialists - European Space Agency (ESA) project astronaut Slawosz Uznans- Science Journalism Program
ki-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary to stay aboard the space
station. Peggy Whitson, former NASA astronaut and director of human space- he Knight Science Journalism Program (KSJ) at MIT has announced that
flight at Axiom Space, will command the commercial mission. Usha Lee McFarling, national science correspondent for STAT and for-
IAF Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair has been designated an astro- Tmer KSJ Fellow, will be joining the team in August as their next director.
naut, as part of the backup pilot of the Ax-4 if Group Captain Shukla is unable to fly. Continued on next page... >>

www.TheIndianEYE.com