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‘Aaj ka bharat abhi bhi sare jahan se acha’: Shubhanshu Shukla in Axiom-4 farewell speech
Shubhanshu Shukla thanked Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for giving him the opportunity to go on the mission.
Indian Air Force Group Captain and astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla said that his journey during the Axiom-4 mission, which is coming to an end, has been incredible and credited the people involved in the mission for the same. He said during the farewell ceremony of the mission that they looked back at Earth during whatever time they could find.
“It has been an incredible journey. It has been made amazing and incredible because of the people who are involved,” he said.
While speaking to his countrymen in Hindi during his farewell speech, Shukla said that while his journey in the space is coming to an end, the journey of India's human space mission is still very long and difficult.
“Aapki or meri yatra abhi bhot lambi hai (Our journey is still very long),” he said.
“I assure you, if we make a firm resolve, even the stars are attainable,” he added.
Also read: Axiom-4 crew's farewell begins; ISS undocking, splashdown on Earth tomorrow
‘Aaj ka Bharat’
Shukla said that 41 years back, an Indian (Rakesh Sharma) went to the space and told us what our country looked like from up there and people want to know what India looks like today.
“Aaj ka bharat space se mahatvakanshi dikhta hai, aaj ka bharat nidar dikhta hai, aaj ka bharat confident dikhta hai, aaj ka bharat garv se poorn dikhta hai, aaj ka bharat abhi bhi sare jahan se acha dikhta hai, jald hi dharti par mulaqat karte hai (Today’s India looks ambitious from space, today’s India looks fearless, today’s India looks confident, today’s India appears full of pride, today’s India still looks better than the entire world. See you soon),” he said.
‘Seems almost magical’
Shubhanshu Shukla said that the crew looked back at Earth during the mission during whatever time they could make and to him, it seems “magical”.
“Over the past two and half weeks or so, we have done outreach activities and we have looked back at the Earth at whatever time we found, we were always looking out the window. It almost seems magical to me.”
He then thanked Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for giving him the opportunity to go on the mission and also expressed gratitude to researchers and students in India who developed the outreach items that he carried.
“I would like to take his opportunity to thank my country and all its citizens for supporting this mission and me with all their hearts. I would like to thanks ISRO for making this happen, all the colleagues at ISRO who have worked tirelessly in developing all the protocols and the outreach activities,” he said.
"I would also like to thank NASA and its international partners Axiom Space, SpaceX for ensuring we were trained adequately well and providing all the support round the clock," he added.
Talking about what he is taking back with him from the mission, he said, “Going back from here, I carry with me a lot of memories and learnings out of this mission that I would try and spread back but one thing that really sticks to me is what humanity is capable of when all of us come together from different parts of the world and work for a common goal. It is truly incredible.”
