Daijiworld Media Network – New Delhi
New Delhi, Aug 17: Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the second Indian to travel to space and the first to visit the International Space Station (ISS), has returned to Indian soil to a hero’s welcome.
The aircraft carrying Shukla, who splashed down off the California coast on July 15 after completing his mission, landed in Delhi in the early hours of Sunday. He was received at the airport by his family, Union Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, and a large crowd waving the national flag.
Shukla, who served as pilot on the Axiom-4 mission that lifted off from Florida’s Kennedy Space Centre on June 25 and docked with the ISS a day later, had been in the US for a year undergoing intensive training. His learnings from NASA, Axiom and SpaceX facilities are expected to play a crucial role in India’s ambitious human spaceflight programme, beginning with the Gaganyaan mission slated for 2027. India also aims to launch its own Bharatiya Antariksh Station by 2035 and a crewed lunar mission by 2040.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who mentioned Shukla in his Independence Day address, is expected to meet him in the coming days. The astronaut will also take part in National Space Day celebrations on August 23. The Prime Minister has asked Shukla to document his training and experiences at the ISS for the benefit of India’s future space missions. Sources said his mission will also be discussed in the Lok Sabha on Monday in a special session on India’s space vision for 2047.
In a heartfelt Instagram post while en route to India, Shukla shared his emotions of leaving behind colleagues who became like family, while expressing excitement to reunite with his loved ones and the nation. He quoted his commander Peggy Whitson’s words – “the only constant in spaceflight is change” – and signed off with a line from the film Swades: “Yun hi chala chal rahi – jeevan gaadi hai samay pahiya.”
His family, based in Lucknow, expressed immense pride. “I am very excited. My son has successfully completed his mission. We are waiting to meet him in Delhi,” said his father, Shambhu Dayal Shukla.