‘Yun Hi Chala Chal Rahi’: Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla’s Grand Homecoming Countdown Begins, Indian Space Hero to Mentor Gaganyaatris

New Delhi: India’s space hero, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, is on his way back home nearly a year after he left for training in Houston, Texas, ahead of the Axiom-4 mission. The astronaut, who recently spent 18 days aboard the International Space Station, is expected to arrive in India on August 17. His homecoming has already been hailed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day address. 

Laying the Groundwork for Gaganyaan

While Group Captain Shukla was in space, PM Modi assigned him a "homework": document the whole sequence of his training and stay at the space station for what would become the manual for India's own Gaganyaan program, the country's first human spaceflight program. 

The ambitious mission intends to launch an Indian astronaut from Indian land using an Indian rocket, with an Indian countdown. The program is called Gaganyaan, and the astronauts are named Gaganyaatris. 

Mr Shukla, who had more than a year of training in the United States, has created the groundwork for the initiative. During this time, he trained at NASA, Axiom, and SpaceX sites. Now that he's on his way back to India, he'll assist the country prepare for human space flight.

India’s Expanding Space Ambitions

During the speech on Independence day, PM Modi reiterated from the ramparts of the Red Fort India's intentions to build a Bharatiya Antariksh Station (or Indian Space Station), which is expected to be operational by 2035, and to put an Indian on the moon by 2040. Group Captain Shukla and three other astronaut-designates were picked a few years ago and are currently preparing to be part of Gaganyaan.

From Axiom-4 to Gaganyaan

In the meanwhile, the NASA-ISRO human space mission Axiom 4 was announced, with Mr Shukla selected as the primary astronaut. He went to the International Space Station aboard a Falcon 9 rocket and a Crew Dragon built by Elon Musk's SpaceX. Group Captain Prashant Balakrishna Nair served as the standby astronaut, essentially acting as a sponge to absorb all of the training's information.

The Launch Vehicle Mark 3 for Gaganyaan has been certified for human space flight, however India is still working on the crew module. The environment life control system is taking longer to master since the components are not importable.

Now that Group Captain Shukla has flown to the space station, he must have learnt the fundamentals of human spaceflight. While in space, he carried out seven experiments peculiar to India. Those have now been returned to the lead investigators in India, and the findings are expected shortly.

The Group Captain is scheduled to begin working for Gaganyaan very soon. On August 23, India will celebrate its second National Space Day, and Mr Shukla is scheduled to meet with Indians while on the ground.

Shubhanshu Shukla to Meet Prime Minister Modi

Shukla, who has spent the past year in the United States training for the Axiom-4 trip to the International Space Station, is set to see Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then fly to his hometown Lucknow. He is due to return to the capital to attend the National Space Day celebrations on August 22-23.

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