Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla quietly etched his name in history by becoming the first Indian to enter the International Space Station (ISS). His Dragon capsule, 'Grace', launched from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Centre, docked precisely with the orbiting lab at 4:02 pm after a 28-hour journey, approximately 400km above Earth. An Indian Air Force officer and test pilot, Shukla’s presence marks a national turning point, signifying India's arrival at the frontiers of commercial human spaceflight, 41 years after Rakesh Sharma's voyage.
The 39-year-old old Subhanshu Shukla, the mission pilot for the Axiom-4 crew, comprising Commander Peggy Whitson (US), Sławosz Uznaski (Poland), and Tibor Kapu (Hungary) expressed his initial acclimatisation: "Grace has been very kind. I wasn’t feeling great when we got shot into the vacuum. But since yesterday, I have apparently been sleeping a lot - which is a good sign! I am learning everything anew - how to walk, how to eat, how to be.” ISRO's team in Houston provided ground control support, elated at the successful docking, which advanced by nearly half an hour due to a clean approach. The mission also features 'Joy', a baby swan toy chosen with Shukla's six-year-old son, Kiash, as a zero-gravity indicator.
From the ISS, Shukla radioed "Namaskar, mere pyaare desh vasiyon," and later told Prime Minister Modi via video link that "Bharat looks big from space," adding, "I have hoisted the tricolour on ISS." Modi hailed his journey as the auspicious beginning of a new era, with President Murmu noting it proved the world is indeed one family.
A significant milestone came when Shukla became the first Indian citizen to conduct a scientific experiment on the ISS. He commenced a cutting-edge biology study, 'Myogenesis', investigating muscle loss in microgravity - a critical challenge for long-duration spaceflight. This ground-breaking research, conducted inside the Life Sciences Glovebox, could aid therapies for future Moon/Mars astronauts and Earth-bound patients. His direct involvement in ISS science is a first for India, reinforcing the nation's ambition to establish its own space station by 2035 and undertake crewed missions to the Moon and beyond.
