NEW DELHI: Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla will return to India on Sunday after his historic mission to the International Space Station (ISS), eager to share his experiences as the country prepares for its first human spaceflight in 2027.
Shukla, who has spent the past year in the US training for the Axiom-4 mission, is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visit his hometown, Lucknow, soon after arrival. He will then return to the capital to participate in National Space Day celebrations on August 22–23.
On Instagram, Shukla shared a smiling photo from his flight home, writing that he felt “a mix of emotions” — sadness at leaving behind friends who became family during training, and excitement to reunite with loved ones in India.
“This is what life is — everything all at once,” he wrote. “Goodbyes are hard, but we need to keep moving in life. As my commander Peggy Whitson says, ‘the only constant in spaceflight is change’. I believe that applies to life too.”
Quoting a favourite song from Swades — “Yun hi chala chal rahi – jeevan gaadi hai samay pahiya” — Shukla recalled listening to it before his launch on June 25.
Shukla and his backup astronaut, Prashanth Nair, also joined the Indian Consulate in Houston for Independence Day celebrations on Friday.
During his Independence Day address at the Red Fort, Prime Minister Modi highlighted Shukla’s return from the space mission, reaffirming India’s ambitions to build its own space station.
Part of the Axiom-4 private mission, Shukla launched from Florida on June 25, docked at the ISS on June 26, and returned to Earth on July 15. Alongside Peggy Whitson (US), Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski (Poland), and Tibor Kapu (Hungary), he completed over 60 experiments and 20 outreach sessions during the 18-day stay in orbit.
