A day in space with Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla
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Morning routines: Fitness before floating
Shukla's day starts around 6am UTC (11.30am IST), following ISS protocols. It begins with nearly two hours of mandatory exercise using the ARED, treadmill, and cycle ergometer to counter muscle and bone loss.
A yoga buff, he adds stretches and breathing exercises to stay flexible.
A taste of home
Group Captain Shukla has carried Gajar ka halwa, Moong dal halwa, Aamras — all dehydrated for microgravity. He also stays connected to Earth through video calls with his family, along with ham radio sessions arranged by ISRO, where he answers student questions about space farming, sleeping in zero gravity, and the everyday things he misses back home.
Up here, we see 16 sunrises and sunsets in a single day – it's exciting! But simple things like drinking water, walking, and especially sleeping become real challenges
– Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla
pics: Axiom Space
I have brought Gajar ka halwa, Moong dal halwa, and Aamras to space. I also wanted my companions to taste them
– Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla
Floating sleep and challenges
Shukla has admitted that sleeping in microgravity—tethered to the ISS walls—takes getting used to. With packed schedules, disrupted circadian rhythms, and the hum of life-support systems, astronauts often report fragmented sleep. Shukla has spoken candidly about these challenges, sharing his experiences during student Q&A sessions and media interactions
From growing methi to conducting scientific research: Shukla does it all
A key mission for Shukla is sprouting methi and moong seeds as part of ISRO's space farming trials – vital research for future missions like Gaganyaan and India's planned space station.
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These fast-growing, nutritious crops are monitored for growth in microgravity. Additionally, he oversees microalgae trials with cyanobacteria, exploring their potential as sources of oxygen and food in space habitats.
A series of cruicial experiments
Shukla is overseeing six additional Indian experiments, including:
Myogenesis Study: Examining skeletal muscle deterioration in space, vital for astronaut health and Earth-based treatments.
Microalgae Trials: Observing cyanobacteria growth for food and oxygen recycling in future space habitats.
Tardigrade Research: Tracking how these resilient creatures survive space conditions, offering clues for long-term human survival.
Cognitive Performance Tests: Monitoring mental sharpness via touchscreen tasks in microgravity.
Bone Physiology Study: Studying biochemical changes in bone cells to develop health countermeasures.
Radiation Exposure Monitoring: Measuring cosmic radiation exposure via dosimeters for astronaut safety
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Hans India
27 minutes ago
- Hans India
Subhanshu Shukla donning role of space farmer in ISS exciting
Special Indian menu for Indian astronauts travelling to space. Sounds interesting. After all, like all of us travelling abroad and craving for Indian food, the Indian astronauts in future too will like to satiate their craving for Indian food, while in space. Let's get ready. Indian astronaut Subhanshu Shukla's experiment with cultivating green gram (moong) and fenugreek (methi) in microgravity during the mission to International Space Station (ISS) marks the initial steps to prepare for longer missions for Indian astronauts. Food being an essential requirement, even travelers to space in future will prefer salads that satiate the Indian taste bud. To see Subhanshu Shukla donning the role of a space farmer in the ISS therefore is exciting. 'I am so proud that ISRO has been able to collaborate with national institutions all over the country and come up with some fantastic research which I am doing on the state for all the scientists and researchers. It is exciting and a joy to do this,' says a visibly thrilled Shukla. He was speaking to the Axiom Space Chief Scientist, as quoted in the media. I can gauge the excitement that the Indian astronaut is coming out with. Although the experiment he has undertaken in space is part of the India-centric space research aimed at developing food vegetable salads that meets the taste and nutrition requirements of the Indian aeronauts in future, the seed samples will eventually returned to India and go in for long-term research to examine changes in their genetics, microbial ecosystem, and nutrition profile, says an Axiom press release. In another experiment, Shukla also laid out experiments with microalgae to know of their potential to 'produce food, oxygen and even biofuels. Their resilience and versatility make them ideal for supporting human life on long-duration missions.' 'Right from doing stem cell research and looking at the effect of microgravity on seeds, evaluating the cognitive load on astronauts while they are interacting with screens on board the station. It has been fantastic. I feel proud to be this kind of bridge between the researchers and the station and do the research on behalf of them, said a beaming Shukla abroad the station. He certainly has every reason to be proud of what he has done abroad the space station. While Shukla has all the reasons to be proud of his accomplishments as a farmer in space, he is left with no worries if he was to be told that cultivating crops in space or on Earth is relatively easy, but the real problem only begins when the crop is harvested and taken to mandis. Indian vegetable farmers often face unexpected price fall during marketing of their crops. A sudden price crash in the market pushes many vegetable farmers into a severe distress. Nor do I expect the astronaut, during his return back home, to unnecessarily start worrying about the market price slump that farmers face once the harvest of vegetables and fruits is complete. Of course, it is none of his job to care about the price crash that farmers are often faced with forcing many of them to throw their produce, but somehow, I feel it will great if he can take out time and visit the mandis upon his return, and see for himself the plight and suffering that farmers undergo. His words about what he sees may help draw the nation to the human sufferings on the farm. A celebrity status helps being a voice for where the attention is lacking. The media will go agog with his visit to mandis and his words in sympathy will become talking points. Nevertheless, National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA) is known to have established a Space Food System Laboratory at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston. It was in 2006 that an official newsletter 'NASA Facts' explained the reasons behind setting up a space food laboratory. The newsletter is very revealing. For any student, it should come as an eye-opener. For instance, it says: 'John Glenn, America's first man to eat anything in near-weightlessness environment of Earth Orbit, found the task of eating fairly easy, but the menu limited.' Most astronauts who followed, found the food served in space, to be unappetizing and quite bland. Subsequently, when Skylab came, which obviously had more storage capacity, an elaborate 72 different kinds of different food items were served. At present, astronauts abroad the space station are served 200 different kinds of food items. I am not sure how sumptuous is the food spread for astronauts in space, but it is quite an elaborate menu from which the astronauts can pick depending on their personal preferences and liking. Since water has to be squeezed out while packing the foods in a shuttle, it can be added just prior to consumption. Most processed foods are kept freeze dried and also dry keeping the limitation of adequate storage in space stations. But over the past few years, space stations have begun to grow vegetables in what is called 'veggie gardens' for ensuring fresh supply of greens. Some experts believe that as the world begins to prepare for the Mars Mission, besides the salad crops, research will move to growing potatoes, sweet potatoes, wheat and soybean. This brings me to the issue of genetically modified crops. Now, before you say what is the correlation between GM crops and space foods, I must explain that during the time when the debate over the risks associated with GM crops was at its peak, that was sometime in the mid-2000s, I received an interesting email. This was in connection with sustainable livelihoods and food sovereignty that many of us were very vocal about. The email I received went something like this. Why are you opposed to GM crops, the sender asked me. What is wrong if food is produced by GM technology without the use of land or farmers? He then elaborated on the possibility of depending on GM foods for global food supplies in the years to come. And then after putting it all down, he introduced himself. 'I am leading the work in NASA on producing food in space for astronauts. If we can do it in space, we can also do it on Earth.' Eventually, he signed off the email, saying: 'We can request World Bank to subsidise food farming in space.' Well, I had to explain to how important it was to sustain farm livelihoods. And why it was important to let farmers produce food for the millennia. Perhaps it is the same kind of thinking that the film The Martian is based on. 'The Martian movie and book conveyed a lot of issues regarding growing food surviving on a planet far from Earth,' said NASA plant physiologist Ray Wheeler, who works at the Kennedy Research Centre. Very true, but the catch word is growing food on a planet far from Earth. But just because we can grow food in space or on Mars does not mean we have to do it on Earth. Let's continue with the romance of cultivating food and consuming what we grow here, on the Earth itself. (The author is a noted food policy analyst and an expert on issues related to the agriculture sector. He writes on food, agriculture and hunger)
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
4 of 7 microgravity tests done, Shubhanshu Shukla may undock on Tuesday
File photo: Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla BENGALURU: Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla , expected to undock from the International Space Station (ISS) at 4.35pm on July 14, has completed four of the seven Isro-led microgravity experiments. Shukla, who is part of the Axiom-4 (Ax-4) mission, is working on the other three that are nearing completion, Isro confirmed. The completed experiments are - Tardigrades (Bengaluru strain): focusing on survival, revival, reproduction, and transcriptomic changes in microgravity; Myogenesis: studying the effect of space on human muscle cell development; Sprouting of methi and moong seeds: with implications for in-orbit nutrition and food sustainability, and Cyanobacteria: tracking the growth of two variants for potential use in closed-loop life support systems. "These experiments are now being packed for their return to Earth for further analysis," Isro said. The three experiments nearing completion are - Microalgae: investigating its viability and applications in space; Crop seeds: studying growth responses to spaceflight conditions; and Voyager display: details of which remain undisclosed but are part of the scientific payload.
Hindustan Times
2 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Shubhanshu Shukla to undergo seven-day rehab after returning to Earth
Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla will undergo a seven-day rehabilitation programme after his splashdown off the California coast on July 15 as he returns to the Earth after an 18-day stay on board the International Space Station (ISS), the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) said on Saturday. Shukla and three other astronauts – commander Peggy Whitson and mission specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski and Tibor Kapu of Poland and Hungary –docked at the ISS on June 26 (REUTERS) Shukla and three other astronauts – commander Peggy Whitson and mission specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski and Tibor Kapu of Poland and Hungary –docked at the ISS on June 26 as part of the commercial Axiom-4 mission. The four astronauts are scheduled to undock from the ISS on Monday, July 14, at 4.35pm IST, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said in a statement. According to ISRO, following a series of orbital manoeuvres after undocking Crew Dragon spacecraft is expected to splash down near the coast of California on July 15, 2025, at 3 pm IST. 'Post splashdown, the Gaganyatri will undergo a rehabilitation program (about seven days) under supervision of Flight Surgeon to adapt back to Earth's gravity,' Isro said in an update on the Axiom-4 mission. Isro paid approximately ₹550 crore for Shukla's travel to the ISS — an experience that will help the space agency in planning and execution of its human spaceflight programme, Gaganyaan, set to take to orbit in 2027. 'Isro's flight surgeons are continuously monitoring and ensuring the overall health and fitness of the Gaganyatri through participation in private medical/psychological conferences. Gaganyatri Shubhanshu is in good health and in high spirit,' Isro said. Shukla and the three other astronauts are expected to board the spacecraft at 2.25 pm IST, wear their space suits and carry out the necessary tests before they begin their journey to the Earth. The ISS is orbiting the Earth at a speed of 28,000 kilometres per hour, and the spacecraft will initiate the autonomous undocking process to gradually slow down and re-enter the planet's atmosphere for a splashdown off the coast of California. 'The Dragon spacecraft will return with more than 580 pounds of cargo, including NASA hardware and data from over 60 experiments conducted throughout the mission,' NASA said. Axiom-4 mission commander Peggy Whitson said in a post on X: 'Enjoying our last few days on the @Space_Station with rehydrated shrimp cocktails and good company! #Ax4.' On the experiment front, Shukla worked on the microalgae experiment, deploying and stowing samples that could one day provide food, oxygen and biofuels for deep-space missions, Axiom Space said in a statement. The resilience of the microalgae makes them a promising asset to sustain life beyond the Earth, it added. Isro said of the seven homegrown microgravity experiments, four experiments have been successfully completed and three are nearing completion. The four completed include Indian strain of Tardigrades involving survival, revival, reproduction and transcriptome; Myogenesis studying the impact of space environment on human muscle cells; Sprouting of methi & moong seeds with relevance to crew nutrition; Cyanobacteria experiment studying the growth of two varieties with relevance to life support systems. These are being readied for their journey back to earth for further analysis, said Isro. The three experiments that are nearing completion include studying microalgae, crop seeds and Voyager Display. 'These Indian-led microgravity experiments represent a significant leap in space science and technology, contributing critical knowledge to support Gaganyaan, Bhartiya Antariksha Station, and future planetary missions,' read Isro statement. As the crew gets ready, NASA said the Dragon spacecraft will return with more than 580 pounds of cargo, including NASA hardware and data from over 60 experiments conducted throughout the mission. On Saturday, the Ax-4 members will finalise science experiments including an electrical muscle stimulation study, testing suit fabrics that promote thermal comfort while exercising, and filming crew activities for a behavioral health study. On Sunday, the quartet will begin packing science gear filled with research samples and loading personal items and other cargo inside Dragon for retrieval on Earth, read a statement from NASA. ISS station flight engineer Anne McClain from NASA began helping with gathering hardware and other items for packing inside Dragon.
