"Indigenous kits, developed by indigenous people, will be used by other countries", says Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Shubhanshu Shukla, who will undock from ISS

Speaking on the same lines, Union Minister Jitendra Singh mentioned that experiments conducted by Group Captain Shukla will benefit other countries of the world.

"Today at around 4:30 PM, they will be undocked. The most important aspect is that Shubhanshu's experiments, which are related to life sciences and plantation, were supported by our Department of Biotechnology and our institutes, including the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and IIT," said Union Minister Jitendra Singh.

"Indigenous kits and experiments, developed by indigenous people, will benefit and be used by other countries worldwide. All the experiments were never imagined to date. On India's initiative, Shubhanshu has done this for the whole world. For the first time, experiments of Indian origin have been done by an Indian person for the world," Singh added further.

As Captain Shukla and his crew are set to undock from the International Space Station (ISS), his family in Lucknow is "excited" to welcome him back home.

Speaking to ANI, Shubhanshu Shukla's mother, Asha Shukla, expressed her desire to meet her son, "If we had our way, we would rush to meet him there. But that is not possible."

Asha Shukla also said that her family prayed to Lord Shiva for the safe return of her son.

"There is so much excitement. Today is a special day for Lord Shiv. We woke up early in the morning and went to the temple. We performed the Abhishek of Lord Shiv. We prayed to God that our child should come back safely and no harm should come to him after landing on earth," she said.

The crew is scheduled to undock from the ISS on July 14 at around 4.35 PM IST, with splashdown expected in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California at approximately 3 PM IST on Tuesday, July 15.

On Sunday, a farewell was held for the crew members at ISS, where Shubhanshu Shukla delivered a stirring speech, in which he quoted iconic words of Cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma: "Aaj ka Bharat abhi bhi saare jahaan see acha dikhta hai" (Today's India is still more splendid than the entire world). (ANI)