'Jai Hind, Jai Bharat'
Shubhanshu Shukla, the Uttar Pradesh native, reached the stars, fulfilling the dreams of 143 crore Indians! It was history in the making when Shubhanshu walked into the Axiom 4 mission vehicle Dragon C213 on Wednesday. He is the first Indian to visit the International Space Station, which orbits 408 km above the Earth and the second Indian to go to space after Rakesh Sharma. 41 years back, Rakesh Sharma chanted 'Saare Jahanse Achcha..." while looking at India from outer space. In a beautiful segue, Shubhanshu Shukla, before commencing his space odyssey on Wednesday, chanted: 'Jai Hind, Jai Bharat..."
The SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket safely launched the Axiom-4 spacecraft, a joint mission of the American space agency NASA and ISRO, into orbit. The Axiom-4 mission had to be postponed six times due to unforeseen reasons, from adverse weather conditions to a liquid oxygen leak detected just before launch. Finally, good omen prevailed during the seventh attempt, at 12.01 pm on Wednesday, the Falcon rocket lifted off from the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Centre in the US at a lightning speed of 7.5 km per second, sending every Indian's heart ablaze with patriotism and soaring to the heights of pride. It was yet another chapter of success in India’s tryst with space missions.
The unique achievement is not just limited to global space research through low-cost launch vehicles and successful rocket launches. Mostly, the success of this mission will pave the way for countless space missions on the cards for India in the future, including ISRO's touted 'Gaganyaan'. The mission can also give dreams to India’s vanity project of the 'Indian Space Station'. The success of Axiom will also pave the way for greater strength and scope for the cooperation between NASA and ISRO. Shubhanshu Shukla's experiences in the International Space Station for two weeks will undoubtedly contribute to the technological prowess of Indian space missions.
In addition to agriculture and food for space residents, Shubhanshu Shukla is conducting seven critical experiments on biological subjects during her two-week 'space mission' at the International Space Station. This includes practical testing of several techniques developed by ISRO and the Department of Biotechnology. Although NASA has already conducted experiments on growing plants on the space station, bringing back the seeds planted and germinated there to India for further testing will contribute invaluable information to the global agricultural sector.
Born to a middle-class family in Lucknow, Shubhanshu completed his primary education at City Montessori School, Aliganj. Shukla’s is an inspiring story of a middle-class boy's dream achieved rightly through perseverance and effort.
Shubhanshu was just fourteen years old when the Kargil War took place, which filled his mind with dreams of flying high, including aeroplanes and military missions. He wrote the entrance exam for the National Defence Academy without anyone coercing him, but fueled by his own will! At the academy, along with military training, the path of missions was opened up for Shubhanshu, who also earned a degree in computer science. Shubhanshu was selected for the flying branch at the Indian Air Force Academy and joined the Air Force as a flying officer in 2006.
With over 2,000 hours of experience flying modern aircraft, including fighter jets, he was selected for the spaceflight training program of the Institute of Aerospace Medicine under the Indian Air Force in 2019. He underwent initial training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Russia in 2020. Later, during his further training in Bengaluru, he completed a master's degree in aerospace engineering from IISc, Bengaluru. Finally, after Rakesh Sharma, it was in Thiruvananthapuram that Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the name of Shubhanshu Shukla as the second Indian astronaut, along with the announcement of India's human spaceship mission at VSSC on February 27, 2024.
After completing a 28-hour journey from Earth, the station successfully docked with the International Space Station at 4.01 pm Indian time yesterday evening, orbiting the Earth at a speed of eight kilometres per second over the North Atlantic Ocean. So far, 280 passengers from 23 countries have visited the International Space Station. For India, this is not just a space trip, but a fuel for the great victories to be achieved ahead.