Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla to return to India today; to meet PM Modi

New Delhi, Aug 17 (IANS) Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla is set to return to India on Sunday following his historic visit to the International Space Station (ISS) and is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi before heading to his hometown, Lucknow.

Shukla, who spent the past year in the US training for the Axiom-4 mission to the ISS, will return to Delhi to participate in the National Space Day celebrations on August 22 to 23.

Meanwhile, addressing the 79th Independence Day celebrations at the Red Fort, Prime Minister Modi highlighted India's plans to develop its own space station and noted that Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla has recently returned from a successful space mission.

"Our Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla has returned from the space station. In the coming days, he is returning to India," PM Modi had said.

Shukla was part of the Axiom-4 private space mission, which lifted off from Florida on June 25 and docked at the ISS on June 26. He returned to Earth on July 15.

During the 18-day mission, Shukla, along with astronauts Peggy Whitson (US), Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski (Poland), and Tibor Kapu (Hungary), conducted more than 60 experiments and 20 outreach sessions aboard the ISS.

Taking to social media platform Instagram on Saturday, Shukla shared an emotional post reminiscing about his journey and the excitement of meeting with friends and family.

"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," he wrote.

"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," he added.

In June, Shukla became the first Indian to reach the ISS.

He returned on July 15, after an 18-day mission, which was packed with several experiments led by ISRO and other activities on the orbital lab.

Since then, he has been undergoing rehabilitation in the US.

Shukla said that he is waiting impatiently to reach the country and share his experiences, which are going to be valuable for India's future space endeavours, especially the Gaganyaan – India's first human spaceflight mission, which is targeting a launch by 2027.

"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," he added.

Looking back at his colleagues, Shukla noted that although "goodbyes are hard", "we need to keep moving in life".

He also shared valuable advice from his commander, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson: "The only constant in spaceflight is change."

Stating that he "believes that it applies to life as well," Shukla shared a song from the Bollywood movie Swades, "at the end of the day Yun hi chala chal rahi - jeevan gaadi hai samay pahiya (loosely translated as just keep walking, traveller - life is a carriage, time is the wheel)".

Meanwhile, his family also expressed excitement over meeting him after his successful space mission.

"I am very excited. My son has successfully completed his mission and has come back. We are very excited that my son is coming back. We are trying to meet him as soon as possible. He is coming the day after tomorrow, and we will meet him in Delhi," Shukla's father, Shambhu Dayal Shukla, told IANS.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Thursday said that the IAF Group Captain will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi before traveling to his hometown of Lucknow to see his family.

--IANS

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