Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla on Monday evening, a day after the astronaut returned to India from the International Space Station. Shukla, the first Indian to travel to the ISS, was welcomed at the Prime Minister’s residence in Delhi. PM Modi hugged Shukla and received the Axiom-4 mission patch. Shukla also showed the prime minister pictures of Earth taken from space.
Shukla was part of the Axiom-4 private space mission that launched from Florida on June 25 and docked at the ISS on June 26. He returned to Earth on July 15. During the 18-day mission, Shukla, along with astronauts Peggy Whitson of the United States, Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland, and Tibor Kapu of Hungary, conducted over 60 experiments and 20 outreach sessions aboard the ISS.
Shukla posted on Instagram about his return journey to India. He said he felt both sadness leaving his space team and excitement to meet friends, family, and citizens in India. He also shared a quote from his commander Peggy Whitson about change being constant in spaceflight and in life.