In Conversation With PM Modi, Shubhanshu Shukla Shares How Life Is On ISS
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday spoke to Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla of the Indian Air Force - the man who created history earlier this week by becoming the first Indian to enter the International Space Station (ISS).
"Today, you are away from our motherland, but you are the closest to the hearts of Indians...Aapke naam mein bhi shubh hai aur aapki yatra naye yug ka shubharambh bhi hai," PM Modi told the Indian astronaut.
Answering the Prime Minister, the astronaut said it is "not my journey alone but also our country's".
Mr Shukla and three other astronauts entered the orbital laboratory at ISS to warm hugs and handshakes after the docking of their spacecraft at the end of a 28-hour journey around the Earth.
"Jai Hind Bharat" was the message from Mr Shukla, 39, after entering the ISS. He is also the second Indian to go to space in 41 years and the first since Rakesh Sharma's eight-day sojourn in 1984.
"With your love and blessings, I have reached the International Space Station. It looks easy to stand here, but my head is a little heavy, facing some difficulty; but these are minor issues," he said in brief remarks in Hindi at the formal welcome ceremony at the ISS.
"We will get used to it. This is the first step of this journey," he added.
A live video link from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) showed the four-member multi-nation crew emerging from the Dragon spacecraft named 'Grace', less than two hours after the sequence of docking with the ISS was completed at 4.15 pm IST.
The spacecraft was put into a low-earth orbit by SpaceX's Falcon rocket that was launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida at 12.01 pm on Wednesday.
The seven-member space station crew, who are part of Expedition 73, welcomed Axiom-4 mission commander Peggy Whitson, as she floated into the station soon after the hatch-opening procedures were completed at 5:44 pm.
Whitson, a veteran astronaut, floated into the space station at 5:53 pm followed by Mr Shukla, the mission pilot, with Polish engineer Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski, a mission specialist and a European Space Agency project astronaut, and Hungary's Tibor Kapu, a mechanical engineer and the mission specialist, close behind.
Ms Whitson handed out astronaut pins to Mr Shukla, Wisniewski and Kapu after they marked their maiden voyage to space.
"I am astronaut 634. It is a privilege to be here," Mr Shukla said.
Mr Shukla said over the next 14 days, he and the other astronauts will conduct scientific experiments and interact with people on Earth.
"This is also a phase of India's space journey. I will keep talking to you. Let us make this journey exciting. I am carrying the tiranga and I am carrying all of you with me. The next 14 days will be exciting," he said.
As the Dragon spacecraft circled the Earth before the completion of docking with the ISS, Mr Shukla also shared his experience via a videolink from the capsule to say he was learning to live in microgravity conditions "like a baby" and it was an amazing experience to float in vacuum.
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