New Delhi | A new 'crew' member of the Axiom-4 mission - a toy swan named Joy - was seen floating in the Dragon spacecraft as astronauts interacted with the mission control via a videolink on Thursday.

Joy is the zero gravity indicator carried by the astronauts of the Axiom-4 mission which was selected because astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla's son Kiash's love for animals.

The tradition of flying a toy to mark the moment gravity gives way to weightlessness began with Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space, and has since become a ritual in space missions.

"We are here, not just the four of us, we also have with us our Zero-G indicator - Joy - that started to float with us just when we were injected into orbit. Joy is floating all over the capsule, sometimes we have to find him/ her here with us," Polish astronaut Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski said.

Shukla said the swan is a great symbol that symbolises wisdom and also has the ability to discern in the age of distraction.

"This means a lot more than just a ZeroG indicator. I think we all have symbolism, in Poland and Hungary and India as well," Shukla said.

Joy, the baby swan, embodies the shared pursuit of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Hungarian to Orbit program (HUNOR) to soar high above our home planet, Axiom Space said in a statement.

"In this way, Joy represents cultural unity as three nations realize the return to human spaceflight, together as one crew," it said.

In India, it symbolizes wisdom and purity, representing the pursuit of truth. In Poland, the swan stands for purity, loyalty, and resilience, while in Hungary, it epitomizes loyalty, grace, and the beauty of nature.

"By choosing a swan as the zero-g indicator, the Ax-4 crew celebrates the diversity of their cultures, united in the shared human experience of space exploration," Axiom Space said.