Astronaut and Indian Air Force Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla is set to return to India on Sunday after his historic journey to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Axiom-4 mission. He is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi before heading to Lucknow to reunite with his family.
Later this month, Shukla will rejoin his fellow astronaut designates—Prashanth Nair (48), Ajith Krishnan (43), and Angad Pratap (43)—for the celebration of India’s second Space Day on August 23, marking the anniversary of the Chandrayaan-3 moon landing.
The Axiom-4 mission, organised by Axiom Space in partnership with SpaceX, saw Shukla spend 18 days aboard the ISS alongside Commander Peggy Whitson (US) and mission specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski (Poland) and Tibor Kapu (Hungary). Together, the crew conducted 60 experiments representing 31 countries, including seven from India.
Since returning to Earth on July 15, Shukla has been in Houston, Texas, undergoing rehabilitation and debriefing with NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX. Videos from Houston showed him adjusting to Earth’s gravity after weeks in microgravity. His backup for the mission, Group Captain Prashanth Nair, also stayed in the US during the mission, and both participated in the Independence Day celebrations at the Indian consulate.
On his flight back to India, Shukla shared an emotional Instagram post, saying he had “a mix of emotions” as he bid farewell to his crewmates who had been “family for the past one year.” He quoted his commander Peggy Whitson, saying, “The only constant in spaceflight is change,” adding that it applied to life as well.
Shukla, fondly nicknamed “Shux” by his crewmates, is now etched in history as the second Indian to travel to space after Rakesh Sharma and the first to visit the ISS. His mission is seen as a precursor to India’s Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme, which aims to send astronauts aboard an Indian spacecraft.
India also has ambitious plans to establish its own space station by 2035, with Shukla and his fellow astronauts expected to play a pivotal role in these future missions.
