Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla is going to return to earth after 18 days. Marking an absolute milestone for India under the Gaganyaan programme benefiting global science with unique experiments.
Indian Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla is now returning Johnny to Earth completing his 18 days stay at International Space Station. This mission marks a monumental achievement for India as he becomes the second Indian to embark on a space journey.
"Shubhanshu Shukla, with the other three Axiom 4 crew members — Commander Peggy Whitson and Mission Specialists Slawosz “Suave” Uznanski-Wisniewski and Tibor Kapu — embarked on the space odyssey on June 25 from Florida and docked at the ISS on June 26."
“Arrival at Earth is scheduled for July 14 at 4:30 PM IST,” stated Jitendra Singh, Minister of Science and Technology. He added, “Today at around 4:30 PM, they will be undocked. The most important thing is that the experiments that Shubhanshu has done there, related to life sciences or plantation, were provided by our Department of Biotechnology and institutes like the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, and the IITs. Indigenous kits, indigenous experiments, done by indigenous people, which will benefit and be used by other countries of the world... All the experiments were never imagined to date. On India's initiative, Shubhanshu has done this for the whole world... For the first time, experiments of Indian origin have been done by an Indian person for the world.”
Indian Air Force Group Captain and astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla stated that his journey during the Axiom 4 mission is going to end soon. “It has been an incredible journey, and all the credit goes to the people who were involved in the mission,” he said during his farewell ceremony. He further added, “Aaj ka Bharat sabse mahatvakankshi dikhta hai, aaj ka Bharat nidar dikhta hai, aaj ka Bharat confident dikhta hai, aaj ka Bharat abhi bhi saare jahan se achha dikhta hai. Jald hi dharti par mulaqat karte hain.”
He thanked the Indian Space Research Organization for giving him the opportunity to go on the mission and also expressed gratitude to the resources and the students in India who developed the outreach items that he carried.
It has been a historic trip for Shubhanshu Shukla as well as for India. He became the first Indian to travel to the ISS and the second to travel into space, following Rakesh Sharma’s path-breaking spaceflight as part of the Soviet Union’s mission to the Salyut 7 space station in 1984.
