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India's astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, who returned to Earth on July 15 after completing NASA's Axiom-4 (AX-4) space mission, arrived in New Delhi in the early hours of Sunday.
Shukla was received at the airport by Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh and Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta. His wife, Kamna Shukla, was also present. Union Minister Singh and CM Gupta greeted her ahead of Shukla's arrival. Shukla was part of NASA's Axiom-4 Space Mission, which took off from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, US, on June 25. He returned to Earth on July 15, splashing down off the coast of California. He became the first Indian in 41 years to travel to space. Ahead of his return to India, Shukla shared an emotional note on X, reflecting on his year-long training and the bonds he built during the mission. "As I sit on the plane to come back to India I have a mix of emotions running through my heart. I feel sad leaving a fantastic group of people behind who were my friends and family for the past one year during this mission. I am also excited about meeting all my friends, family and everyone in the country for the first time post mission. I guess this is what life is - everything all at once," he wrote. He added, "Goodbyes are hard but we need to keep moving in life. As my commander @astro_peggy fondly says, 'the only constant in spaceflight is change'. I believe that applies to life as well. I guess at the end of the day -"Yun hi chala chal rahi - jeevan gaadi hai samay pahiya". Shukla's journey was part of the Axiom Space (AX-04) mission, launched on June 25 aboard SpaceX's Falcon rocket. The Dragonfly spacecraft docked with the ISS on June 26, where Shukla spent 18 days conducting a series of scientific experiments in microgravity. The mission, conducted in collaboration with NASA and SpaceX, was aimed at gaining practical experience for India's Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme. According to ISRO, Shukla carried out multiple experiments aboard the ISS and the Space Shuttle, making significant contributions to India's space research. The learnings from Shukla's mission will directly support India's Gaganyaan project, which will begin with an unmanned flight later this year, followed by two more unmanned missions. Eventually, an Indian astronaut will be sent into space for 2-7 days aboard the Gaganyaan spacecraft. The mission also highlighted growing India-US space cooperation. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the United States, ISRO and NASA signed an agreement enabling an Indian astronaut to travel to the ISS under a US mission. (ANI)
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