Sleeping on ISS most difficult task: Shubhanshu
'The most difficult task is to go to sleep because of the time that is around you. You know you are here for a short time and you want to do more and more,' said Shukla during his interaction with school students from India via Ham radio on Friday afternoon. 'But as you understand that there are activities planned, you also need to get rest.'
In his 10-minute communication starting 3.47pm, Shukla, who connected to Isro's UR Rao Satellite Centre, Bengaluru, answered questions on his experience flying to space, experiments he is undertaking and importance of international collaboration for the success of a space mission like Axiom-4. His outreach via amateur radio interaction was livestreamed by Space India, which is an educational organisation working with schools across India.
Since docking on June 26, the astronauts by end of July 3, have completed approximately 113 orbits around Earth, covering over 2.9 million miles - that's nearly 12 times the distance between Earth and the Moon.
During his two- weeks on ISS, Shukla, who represents Isro, has been commissioned to perform seven home grown experiments and five scientific studies as part of Isro-NASA collaboration.
Describing all the experiments as challenging and exciting, Shukla said he particularly finds a few that he is conducting on ISS 'interesting'. 'Especially the one concerned with stem cells,' he pointed.
As exciting as the experience has been, Shukla also said it's hard since the body has to adapt to new conditions.
On being asked if he shared the Indian food - amras, moong dal halwa and gajjar ka halwa developed by DRDO and Isro - with other astronauts, the 39-year-old said, 'I must tell you that everybody here loved it and we sat together and shared the food and they appreciated how good these were. And it was a good moment. We brought together foods from different countries and got to share it together with all the crew on the station.'
Stating that rocket launch was very dynamic, the Lucknow resident recounted his journey to ISS. 'The experience was exhilarating.. (the rocket launch) was very fast, and as you go higher you go faster. The accelerations were quite high.'
As he explained that the rocket goes in two stages, Shukla said, 'The first stage was fast. And the second stage accelerates due to the velocity of 8kms per second.'
He pointed out that the Ax-4 mission was the 'power of global collaboration', one that allowed him to look at the earth from space. 'It (the earth) is big. It is very beautiful and it reminded me of how fortunate we are to be in this planet and with everything we have.'
A week on ISS, a statement from Axiom Space read, 'In just seven days, the Ax-4 astronauts have already made significant contributions to scientific research...With more than a hundred sunrises and sunsets witnessed from orbit, the Ax-4 mission is advancing science progress in space and inspiring a new generation of explorers.'
By the end of their time on ISS, the Ax-4 mission comprising commander Peggy Whitson, mission pilot Shukla and mission specialists Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski and Tibor Kapu would have conducted 60 experiments representing 31 countries.
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