Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla sent out his first message from space onboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, saying he is learning to do things in orbit like a baby.
The message comes hours before the scheduled docking of the spacecraft carrying Shukla and three other astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). The docking of the Axiom Mission 4 crew is expected around 4:30 PM IST.
Hello everyone, Namaskar from Space,” Group Captain Shukla said during a SpaceX live stream.
Shukla said that he was thrilled to be in space along with the rest of the crew and called the ride to orbit ‘amazing’.
“Since yesterday, I've been told that I'm sleeping a lot, which is a good sign. I'm getting used to this quite well, enjoying the views, enjoying the entire experience. Learning like a baby... how to walk and eat in space…. It's good to make mistakes, but it is better to see someone else do that too,” he added.
Shubhanshu Shukla called his mission in space a small but solid step for India.
“This is a small step, but steady and solid step towards India's human space programme,” he said.
Second Indian citizen in space
The 39-year-old, Lucknow-born Shubhanshu Shukla became only the second Indian astronaut to undertake a space flight, 41 years after his icon Rakesh Sharma’s eight-day space odyssey on board the then Soviet Union's Salyut-7 space station in 1984.
{{/usCountry}}The 39-year-old, Lucknow-born Shubhanshu Shukla became only the second Indian astronaut to undertake a space flight, 41 years after his icon Rakesh Sharma’s eight-day space odyssey on board the then Soviet Union's Salyut-7 space station in 1984.
{{/usCountry}}After multiple delays, Elon Musk's SpaceX launch vehicle with Crew Dragon spacecraft atop a Falcon-9 rocket blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:01 PM(IST) carrying mission pilot Shukla, a Group Captain in the Indian Air Force(IAF), former NASA astronaut Commander Peggy Whitson and mission specialists Tibor Kapu of Hungary and Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland.
Congratulations poured in from all quarters as the Ax-4 mission astronauts entered Earth's orbit. President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh and cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, among others, hailed the space mission.