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Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla meets PM Modi, gifts Axiom-4 mission patch
Shubhanshu Shukla, who became the second Indian to undertake a spaceflight as part of the Axiom-4 mission, returned to India early Sunday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday met Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, the pilot of the Axiom-4 Space Mission to the International Space Station (ISS), at his Lok Kalyan Marg residence in Delhi.
Modi welcomed Shukla, who was wearing an ISRO astronaut's jacket, with a warm hug and walked with him with his arm on the astronaut’s shoulder.
During the meeting, Shukla presented the Axiom-4 mission patch to PM Modi and shared pictures of the Earth taken from the International Space Station.
“Had a great interaction with Shubhanshu Shukla. We discussed a wide range of subjects including his experiences in space, progress in science & technology as well as India's ambitious Gaganyaan mission. India is proud of his feat,” PM Modi wrote on X.
Shukla, who became the second Indian to undertake a spaceflight as part of the Axiom-4 mission, returned to India early Sunday to a rousing welcome at the Delhi airport on Sunday.
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Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta, Union minister of science and technology and earth sciences Jitendra Singh, and ISRO chairman Dr V Narayanan, among others, greeted Shukla.
During his address on the 79th Independence Day, PM Modi had lauded Shukla’s historic visit.
“Every citizen of the country is seeing the wonders of the space sector and is filled with pride. And our Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla has returned from the space station. He is also coming to India in a few days. We are also preparing for Aatmanirbhar Bharat Gaganyaan on our own in space. We are working towards building our own space station on our own,” he said.
As HT reported, Shukla is likely to visit his hometown, Lucknow, before returning to the capital to participate in National Space Day celebrations on August 22–23.
Shubhanshu Shukla's Axiom-4 mission
Shukla’s mission, which was launched from Florida on June 25 and docked with the ISS a day later, concluded with his return to Earth on July 15.
During his 18-day stay in orbit, he and his fellow astronauts Peggy Whitson (US), Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski (Poland), and Tibor Kapu (Hungary) carried out more than 60 scientific experiments and 20 outreach activities.
