Indian Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla Returns To India After Visit To ISS

Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla returned to India on Sunday after his visit to the International Space Station (ISS). He is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and later leave for his hometown, Lucknow. Shukla is the first Indian to visit the ISS.

He was received at the airport by Union Minister Jitendra Singh, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, and ISRO Chairman V Narayanan. He had been in the United States training for the Axiom-4 mission to outer space over the past year. 

Modi in his address on the 79th Independence Day celebrations at the Red Fort spoke of India developing its own space station and mentioned that astronaut Shukla had returned from a space mission.

"Our Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla has returned from the space station. In the coming days, he is returning to India," PTI quoted Modi.

He is expected to return from Lucknow to Delhi to participate in the National Space Day celebrations on August 22-23. Shukla and his backup astronaut Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair also participated in the Independence Day celebrations at the Indian Consulate in Houston on Friday.

"India’s space glory touches Indian soil... as the iconic son of Mother India, #Gaganyatri Shubhanshu Shukla, lands in Delhi in the early hours of this morning. Accompanying him, another equally accomplished Group Captain Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair, one of the astronauts selected for India’s first human mission Gaganyaan, who was India’s designated backup for the mission to the International Space Station #ISS," Singh said in a post on X.

Shukla too posted on Instagram, earlier on Saturday, expressing mixed emotions as he left the USA to travel back to India, adding that he looked forward to sharing his experiences with everyone back home.

"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 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," Shukla said in the post.

"Having received incredible love and support from everyone during and after the mission, I can’t wait to come back to India to share my experiences with all of you. Goodbyes are hard, but we need to keep moving in life. As my commander Peggy Whitson fondly says, ‘The only constant in spaceflight is change.’ I believe that applies to life as well," he added.

He also mentioned, "I guess at the end of the day - 'Yun hi chala chal rahi - jeevan gaadi hai samay pahiya'," quoting from Shah Rukh Khan starrer Bollywood movie Swades, which, as per PTI, was on his playlist just before he embarked on the Axiom-4 mission to the ISS on June 25 from the US.

Shukla was part of the Axiom-4 private space mission that lifted off from Florida on June 25 and docked at the International Space Station on June 26. Axiom Mission 4 is part of NASA’s broader strategy to build a robust low Earth orbit economy. 

By enabling commercial missions like these, NASA aims to purchase services from private partners while shifting its own focus to deep space exploration under the Artemis programme. 

Before beginning his journey back to Earth, Shukla delivered a memorable farewell from space, calling modern India "ambitious, fearless, confident and full of pride." Echoing the words of India's first astronaut Rakesh Sharma, he said that from his vantage point, the country still looks "saare jahan se accha" (the best in the world). He returned to Earth on 15 July. 

Along with three other astronauts - Peggy Whitson (US), Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski (Poland), and Tibor Kapu (Hungary) - Shukla conducted over 60 experiments and 20 outreach sessions during the 18-day mission, PTI reported.

(With PTI inputs)