Rajnath Singh meets Shubhanshu Shukla: His journey to inspire young Indian minds
In a post on X after the meeting, Rajnath Singh said that he discussed with Group Captain Shukla 'the inspiring space journey, the vital experiments he undertook in orbit, advances in science and technology, and the road ahead with India's pioneering Gaganyaan mission.'Singh also underlined the pivotal role of the Indian Air Force (IAF) in India's space programme, including astronaut selection, training, and mission support in collaboration with ISRO. He emphasised that 'the professionalism and expertise of IAF personnel are vital enablers of the country's progress towards manned space missions.'- EndsMust Watch IN THIS STORY#Rajnath Singh#Shubhanshu Shukla
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New Indian Express
24 minutes ago
- New Indian Express
Saare jahaan se achha... India will set up own space station, says Shux
NEW DELHI: India is considering establishing its own Bharat Antariksh Space Station, modelled after the International Space Station, astronaut Captain Shubhanshu Shukla said on Friday. In his first media interaction following successful completion of the International Space Station (ISS) mission, Shukla expressed his gratitude to the Indian government and the ISRO team for facilitating the Axiom-4 mission. 'Bharat aaj bhi antariksh se saare jahaan se achha dikhta hai (Even today, India looks the most beautiful from space). Jai Hind, Jai Bharat,' he said. Shukla docked at the ISS on June 26 and returned to Earth on July 15. He flew aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. During his stay, he interacted with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, school students, and the ISRO chairman. After undocking and splashdown, Shukla underwent rehabilitation from July 15-22, followed by mission debriefing from August 1-13. He returned to India on August 17. Meanwhile, ISRO played a key role in the ISS mission by detecting a timely oxygen leak, which delayed the mission and ultimately prevented a potential disaster. The mission was initially targeted for June 11, but ISRO detected the fault on June 10, leading to the delay. 'ISRO's technical expertise played a vital role in ensuring the safe launch of the mission by addressing the liquid oxygen leakage observed in the first stage of the Falcon-9 rocket, avoiding a catastrophic failure,' said Dr V Narayana, ISRO chairman, adding, 'I am proud to say that the ISRO team saved four astronauts.' The ISRO chief emphasised that the learnings from the ISS mission, operating procedures and technical protocols, would assist in the launch of the Gaganyaan and Bhartiya Antariksha Station programmes. During his time at the ISS, Shukla conducted seven microgravity experiments focused on human health, space biotechnology, space agriculture, cognitive science, astronaut nutrition, space biology, and bioregenerative life support systems. 'This research is going to provide a vast wealth of data for Indian science and research,' he remarked.
Hindustan Times
24 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Spice of Life: 40 years on, India's still ‘saare jahan se achha'
As Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla recalled the Axiom-4 Mission and his first-hand experience at the International Space Station (ISS), making him only the second Indian to journey into space, people of my generation were reminded of a different time some 40 years ago. As Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla recalled the Axiom-4 Mission and his first-hand experience at the International Space Station (ISS), making him only the second Indian to journey into space, people of my generation were reminded of a different time some 40 years ago. (ANI) Back then, images of Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian in space, aboard Soviet Soyuz T-II uttering the words 'Saare jahan se achha' were beamed on Doordarshan for many days. His words, which went on to create history, were an apt reply to then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's question about how India looked from space. This was some years after the Apollo missions to the moon and back had been wrapped up as part of which astronaut Neil Armstrong had taken that one small step that would become a giant leap for mankind. It was just a few years after NASA's first space station Skylab had de-orbited prematurely and was brought down safely back to earth. People spent the last tense days of its descent hooked to All India Radio which kept flashing the latest news about the risk of the space station falling on populated areas. Thankfully, the satellite did not cause any loss of life as the major part of its debris got scattered in the Indian Ocean. During those days, all of us would spend our Sundays glued to the television screen watching the futuristic space show Star Trek. The show always started with the Star Trek slogan: To explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilisations, to boldly go where no man has gone before. Each Sunday, Captain Cook and Mr Spock, the two leading characters, would navigate their space ship called the USS Enterprise to different corners of the Milky Way and each new episode unfolded a fresh encounter with a new race of aliens. Obviously, 40 years is not a very long time, yet it is definitely more recent than the ages ago when people like Aryabhatta, Copernicus and Galileo peered into the skies to unravel the mysteries of the universe and announce that we live in a heliocentric and not geocentric world. However, 40 years is long enough for major changes in our relationship with the cosmos to take place. Whether it is the recent past or long back, space has always fascinated us as it could hold answers to the three most vital questions: Why are we here? Are we alone? How did it all begin? As we watched images of our own Shubhanshu Shukla floating in the gravity-less chambers of the ISS close on the heels of the success of the Chandrayaan mission which came after a long tale of PSLV launches, it seems India is reaffirming its role in humanity's quest for greater knowledge of the universe of which we are a part. All this is happening at a time when humanity is conquering new frontiers. The discovery of exoplanets with biosignatures, the freely accessible pictures of distant galaxies, news of upcoming star parades and super moons or the theories of cosmogony circulating on the internet shows that we are living in the age when space science has become an intimate part of our lives. People like Shubhanshu connect the scientific progress made during the ancient and the recent past with the present. He connects India with the whole of humanity. No wonder when he looked down from space, India still appeared 'Saare jahan se achha ' . The writer is professor at the Centre for Distance and Online Education, Punjabi University, Patiala, and can be reached at ajayverma71patiala@
Indian Express
4 hours ago
- Indian Express
Axiom-4 learnings will help train for Gaganyaan: ISRO chief
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has prepared a 4,000-page document detailing the experience of Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla on the Axiom-4 mission, the training that he and fellow astronaut Prashant B Nair underwent, and the learnings of the ISRO team present in the US through the mission. ISRO chairman V Narayanan said these learnings would be applied for training astronauts for India's Gaganyaan programme. They (the two astronauts) have gained a lot of confidence working with a very experienced team (SpaceX, NASA and Axiom). The entire training programme, going to space and coming back, the docking process, the microgravity environment that the bodies faced, everything has been documented. This will be very useful for our own astronauts, the current batch and subsequent ones,' said Narayanan. But the run-up to the mission was not all that smooth. Narayanan recounted the incident of a leakage in the rocket ahead of the launch, which the ISRO team insisted on being repaired. '…Probably, they thought that it was a minor leakage… When it came in the press, the first question asked was where the leak was. To our surprise, they could not find the location of the leak. We were shocked,' Narayanan said. He said that when the Axiom team was asked about the leak rate, they said it was confidential. 'We were not comfortable. If it is a case of just a small hole it is not a problem, but if it is a crack that cannot be allowed. So, we insisted on a complete correction and they had to call off the launch… When they located it, it was a crack in the fuel line. During the test, the leak was increasing, the data is with us. If it (the rocket) lifts-off with a crack, what will happen is that with vibrations, it will give way. Then it will be a catastrophic situation,' he said. Talking about his experience in space, Shukla said that despite all the training, when the rockets finally took off, it felt very different. He said everything was a surprise in space, the biggest of which was utilising space in 3D. 'You walk on the floor and sit on the seats. In space you can crawl on ceiling or the walls. This was a very unique experience. Initially, I gave things to people to hold, although I knew nothing would fall; it was a habit,' he said. He also spoke about sleeping in space through 16 sunrises and sunsets every day. He said GMT timing was followed on the space station and the windows were shuttered down when one had to sleep. 'But it was so beautiful, I always wanted to sit by the window,' said Shukla. He said there was a craving for more Indian foods in space. 'That's what you really miss. You don't really feel hungry… the food feels bland. I am very particular about my food, but when I came back I told my wife I will eat whatever you make. She said finally it took me going to space for it.' Shukla also spoke about his first view of the Earth. 'It was a night pass… The darkness of the sea first and then the country completely lit up. There is no other place I would feel emotional about. I have seen India several times since, but that first view left its mark,' he said. Prashanth Nair, who was on the standby for the Axiom-4 mission, was asked whether he felt having missed out on this trip. He said the Air Force had taught him the importance of being a good wingman, and compared himself to being a 'Laxman to Shukla's Ram'. 'It feels like Diwali today, and all our countrymen are here to receive us,' Nair said. He said the actual experience is very different from training. 'Even if you write a PhD on the smell of roses, a person who has never smelled a rose will not know what it means after reading it entirely. Until you go to space you would not know what it means.'
