'He is our son, but he belongs to entire nation': Group captain Shubhanshu Shukla's mother recites Sundarkand; prays for crew's safe return
Shubhanshu Shukla
nears splashdown, his family in Lucknow is filled with excitement, pride, and prayers. Shukla, India's second astronaut in space, is expected to return to Earth around 3:01 pm IST on Tuesday, concluding a historic mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Axiom-4 (Ax-4) crew.
Back home in Lucknow, the Shukla family has been glued to every update, offering prayers and preparing to welcome their son with joy and reverence.
His mother, Asha Shukla, told news agency ANI: 'We are very excited. When we saw the undocking, we knew he was on his way now. We are waiting for our son. He will reach by evening. We prayed for his well-being. We went to the temple and took Hanumaji's Darshan. We did a Sundarkand recitation. We are proud that our son wrote his name in history. We will give him a grand welcome'
His father, Shambhu Dayal Shukla, added: 'We are very excited that our son is returning from the mission and landing on Earth.
He had made us so proud. It will be noted down in history. We are waiting for his safe landing. It is a day of joy for the entire nation. I thank the entire nation for their prayers. He is our son, but he belongs to the entire nation. We prayed and remembered God.'
Joining in the anticipation, his sister, Shuchi Mishra, said: 'The energy is very high and everyone is very excited. Everyone will gather and watch the splashdown together.
We want to thank everyone for their best wishes. We are offering prayers.'
The Dragon capsule, 'Grace', undocked from the ISS on Monday evening (IST) and is on a 22.5-hour return journey. A de-orbit burn is scheduled for 2:07 PM IST, followed by trunk separation and re-entry through Earth's atmosphere, with temperatures exceeding 1,600°C. The final descent will feature two parachute deployments before splashdown off the coast of San Diego, California.
During his 20 days in space, Shukla completed over 310 orbits, travelling more than 1.3 crore kilometers, a distance equivalent to circling the Earth 33 times to the Moon and back. The crew also witnessed over 300 sunrises and sunsets, a surreal spectacle of low-Earth orbit.
With this mission, Shukla becomes the first Indian astronaut to visit the ISS, marking a landmark moment in India's expanding presence in human spaceflight.
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Time of India
3 hours ago
- Time of India
City school students thrilled to track splashdown live
1 2 3 4 Kolkata: The return of the Crew Dragon Grace Spacecraft capsule, which made a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, California, around 3.01 pm (IST) on Tuesday, brought excitement to the faces of students across the city. Around 200 school students turned up at the Birla Industrial and Technological Museum (BITM) to witness the historic moment virtually as the return of the Axiom Mission 4 was live-streamed there. As the clock ticked closer to the landing, the excitement was at its peak among the youngsters accompanied by their teachers. Raj Routh, a Class VI student of Mitra Institution (Main), said, "It is a happy moment for all Indians as Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and the crew touched down on the planet." After 20 days since the launch on June 25 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and docking to the International Space Station (ISS) the next day, Shukla and the three crew members successfully completed the Axiom Mission 4. You Can Also Check: Kolkata AQI | Weather in Kolkata | Bank Holidays in Kolkata | Public Holidays in Kolkata Shukla is the second Indian to have travelled to space and the first to have gone to the ISS. Holding the Indian national flag high, the students cheered "Jai Hind, Jai Bharat" as the crew made a splashdown, and the auditorium at BITM broke into applause. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Forget Furosemide, Use This Household Item To Help Drain Edema Fluid WellnessGuide Learn more Undo Another Class VIII student, Rudra Roy, said, "I am proud and happy that India could achieve the space mission. It is the first time that I am witnessing something like this, so my excitement knows no bounds." Along with the screening of the splashdown, the BITM also arranged an open house quiz on spaceflight missions and an interactive science demonstration of rocket science of Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon Grace Spacecraft. Teachers were equally thrilled to be there. Mitali Chakraborty Saha, a teacher, said, "The students are very happy to be here, to witness something like this together. It would be impossible to experience this at home as they would not be together." Another teacher, Tuhina Chatterjee, showing similar enthusiasm, said that "we were eagerly looking forward to the crew's homecoming." Arnab Chatterjee, director of BITM, said, "It is a moment of pride that Shukla has travelled to space 41 years after Rakesh Sharma's mission. We found excitement on the faces of the students who came for the live-streaming despite rain. This event not only aims at educating the kids about space science but also makes us believe that it may inspire some of these students to be astronauts in the days to come." Four months ago, on March 18, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore also made a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida after being retrieved by the SpaceX Dragon capsule. The BITM live-streamed that event as well.
Time of India
3 hours ago
- Time of India
Shubhanshu Shukla returns safely, next mission: Helping Gaganyaan
Shubhanshu Shukla returns safely, next mission: Helping Gaganyaan (Picture credit: AP) With Grace's gentle splash into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego at 3.02 pm (IST) on Tuesday, Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla (Shux) ended his mission, wrapping up months of training, experiments in orbit, and India's latest stride in human spaceflight participation. When Wing Commander (retd) Rakesh Sharma soared into space aboard a Soviet spacecraft in April 1984, Shux wasn't even born. It would be another year and a half before he entered the world. Forty-one years later, Shux's Axiom-4 (Ax-4) mission comes at a time India is making a deeper entry into human spaceflight, expanding ambitions beyond satellites and rockets. And this hasn't escaped Shux, who in his last speech from the International Space Station (ISS), had said: 'As this journey completes… India's human spaceflight journey is both long and challenging. But I assure you, if we decide, even the stars are attainable.' PM Modi, while welcoming Shux back, said as India's first astronaut to the ISS, he has inspired a billion dreams through his dedication, courage and pioneering spirit. '...It marks another milestone towards our own Human Space Flight Mission - Gaganyaan ,' the PM said. Re-entry & splashdown Grace, the Dragon capsule carrying Shux, mission commander Peggy Whitson, mission specialists Tibor Kapu and Slawosz Uznanski, had undocked from the ISS at 4.45 pm Monday. As part of the re-entry and splashdown operations, around 2.07 pm on Tuesday, Grace began the 18-minute de-orbit burn, and by 2.27 pm, Grace jettisoned the trunk (with solar panels and radiators), and the nose cone was closed by 2.33 pm. Around 2.57 pm, Grace deployed the drogue parachutes and about a minute later, the four main parachutes got deployed at an altitude of 1,000 metres. In a three-minute operation, these parachutes together reduced Grace's velocity from 563kmph to 23kmph as altitude dropped to 800m, 600m and 400m, before the splashdown. Recovery operations At 3.07 pm, Peggy radioed to mission control that the crew was ready for recovery and by 3.10 pm, the recovery boats reached Grace. The recovery personnel, wearing PPE suits, first checked for hazardous gases around Grace before beginning rigging the capsule at 3.15 pm, as flight surgeons stood by for the initial medical tests to be conducted. Between 3.29 pm and 3.30 pm, Grace was nested on recovery ship 'Shannon', when the recovery teams began some routine leak checks and de-rigging and ensured it was safe for the crew to egress or exit from the side hatch. By 3.37 pm Grace was being moved from its initial place on Shannon to a deck where the crew was expected to be recovered. Between 3.40 pm and 3.41 pm, the recovery personnel opened the side hatch and began preparations to allow the crew to egress. At 3.49 pm, Peggy slid out of the capsule with a smile, followed by Shux at 5.52 pm and mission specialists Slawosz Uznanski and Tibor Kapu in the next couple of minutes. The crew was then taken to land by a helicopter. Following medical checks, they will be taken to Houston for de-briefing and other procedures. Learning For Gaganyaan Just as Shux, Isro too has acknowledged the importance of the mission that has cost India Rs 548 crore. '...Ax-4 is one small step in orbit, but a giant leap in India's pursuit of human spaceflight and scientific discovery,' the agency had said post-launch. Isro chairman V Narayanan, while stressing that learning outcomes — spanning astronaut training (for two), mission operations, and hardware-software-human interface — cannot be measured purely in monetary terms, had told TOI that benefits from Ax-4 far outweigh the cost. Indian Space Association director-general Lt Gen (retd) AK Bhatt said: 'This is a stepping stone for India's future crewed space journeys, including Gaganyaan and goals of landing an Indian on the Moon by 2040. It'll not only support Isro but also give impetus to both global and Indian private space industries.' Satcom Industries Association-India president Subba Rao Pavuluri, echoing Bhatt's views, said: '...While our ancestors explored Planets with intuition, we'll be exploring planets with experimentation and going there. Shukla's mission is the first step to realise 'Bharat's Space ambitions' .'
Time of India
4 hours ago
- Time of India
Shubhanshu Shukla's mission validates India's astronaut selection & training: Former IAM chief
BENGALURU: For the first time, India's astronaut training protocols are being tested and validated in real space conditions, said Air Vice Marshal Anupam Agarwal, former Commandant of the Institute of Aerospace Medicine (IAM), which is responsible for selecting and preparing Gaganyaan astronaut-designates. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now In an exclusive interview to TOI, Agarwal, who was an air commodore when he helmed IAM, described Group Captain 's (Shux) current mission to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Axiom-4 mission as a critical milestone for India's human spaceflight efforts. 'The entire aerospace medicine process, physiological and psychological selection, is being validated. Not only was he selected well, but also the test standards we developed, the procedures we followed, the psychological selection methods, everything is now being put through a real microgravity test,' Agarwal said. 'It is a fulfilling feeling,' he added. IAM's involvement in astronaut screening goes beyond selection. It collects extensive baseline medical and physiological data before a mission. According to Agarwal, this data is now central to studying how microgravity affects Indian astronauts. 'Changes, if any, will be compared with the kind of changes we expect in microgravity. We will study those extensively and try to determine whether our methods for collecting and interpreting baseline data were correct. This will bolster the entire process.' Agarwal said India's limited past exposure to human spaceflight made missions like Shukla's especially important. 'This is extremely complicated and many developed nations have attempted it and were unable to achieve it. For us, international exposure is the best thing that could happen to this programme.' He added that knowledge about human spaceflight is often not openly shared in literature and can only be gained through experience. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now 'If we want success, we must learn fast, learn accurately and learn what's relevant.' Looking ahead to Gaganyaan and future Indian space missions, Agarwal said IAM's role will be critical. 'The aerospace medicine specialists are to the human what the engineers are to the spacecraft. They help design the human-use products, the man-machine interface, the safety of crew, acoustic, visual, vibration and acceleration standards, clothing, hygiene products and so on.' Reflecting on his personal experience of selecting India's first set of astronaut-designates, Agarwal said shortlisting Shukla was a memorable moment for him and his team. 'We agreed that we have been extremely lucky in life. The selection process allowed us to meet some of the brightest, most intelligent and professionally sound humans in the country. Shux is one of them. How many people have this opportunity? It was, is and will remain an excellent experience to meet Shux.'
