Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla returned to India in the early hours of Sunday following his historic visit to the International Space Station (ISS).Shukla, who has spent the past year in the United States training for the Axiom-4 mission to the ISS, was greeted at the airport by Union Minister Jitendra Singh, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, and ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan. Shukla’s backup astronaut, Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair, also returned to the homeland. Shukla is anticipated to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and travel to his hometown, Lucknow, shortly. He is also expected to return to the capital to take part in the National Space Day celebrations on August 22-23. “India’s space glory touches Indian soil… as the iconic son of Mother India, #Gaganyatri Shubhanshu Shukla, lands in Delhi in the early hours of this morning. Accompanying him is another equally accomplished Group Captain Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair, one of the astronauts selected for India’s first human mission Gaganyaan, who served as India’s designated backup for the mission to the International Space Station #ISS,” Singh stated in a post on X.
Earlier on Saturday, Shukla shared a smiling photograph of himself seated in an airplane on Instagram, expressing that he was filled with mixed emotions as he departed the US and looked forward to returning to India to share his experiences with everyone back home. “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 year during this mission. 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,” Shukla remarked in the post.Shukla also wrote, “I guess at the end of the day Yun hi chala chal rahi jeevan gaadi hai samay pahiya,” recalling the song from the Bollywood movie Swades, which was on his playlist just before he embarked on the Axiom-4 mission to the ISS on June 25 from the US.
