Shubhanshu Shukla accorded warm welcome at IGI by Dr Jitendra Singh, Delhi CM & ISRO chairman
Citizens carrying tricolor, Union Minister Jitendra Singh, Delhi CM Rekha Gupta, ISRO Chairman V Narayanan, along with others received Shukla at the airport in a bid to celebrate his return after the historic journey from space.
Minister Singh taking to social media expressed, " A moment of pride for India! A moment of glory for ISRO! A moment of gratitude to the dispensation that facilitated this under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi. India's Space Glory touches the Indian soil… as the iconic son of Mother India, Shubhanshu Shukla lands at Delhi in the early hours of morning today."
SIngh added, "Accompanying him, another equally accomplished Group Captain Prasanth 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. Privileged to receive both of them at the New Delhi Airport along with Delhi CM Smt. Rekha Gupta."
People welcomed him with drums, flowers and hailed his achievement as a proud moment for the entire nation.
Shukla, after concluding his historic journey to the International Space Station (ISS), returned to the planet in July.
He is the second Indian to travel to space after Rakesh Sharma, who went on a space mission in 1984.
Shukla's mission where he represented the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), and the learning from the same will contribute to the country's future space research and missions.
Earlier while boarding the plane to India, taking to social media platform X, Shukla wrote, " 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. 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."
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