16 sunrises and sunsets a day: Astronaut Shukla shares experience of being in space

New Delhi: Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla on Saturday told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he and his fellow astronomers on-board the International Space Station have an amazing view of the Earth as they have been watching sunrise and sunsets 16 times a day.

On the challenges that he is facing, Shukla said he had to tie his legs to the floor while talking to the PM or else he would float because of the microgravity.

“We trained for a year. I knew about all the systems, but after coming here, everything changed. Here, even small things are different because there is no gravity in space. Sleeping here is a big challenge. It takes some time to get used to this environment,” he said.

“As I am talking to you, I have tied my legs, else I will float and go up. If I leave the microphone, it starts floating. Drinking water, walking, sleeping all are big challenges. You can sleep on the floor, or on the wall. It takes 1-2 days to get used to despite the training.”

Group Captain Shukla along with mission commander Peggy Whitson, ESA astronaut Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski, and mission specialist Tibor Kapu docked to the ISS on June 26 and they will be spending 14 days carrying out 60 scientific experiments.

Shukla will conduct seven experiments, the results of which will be useful to Gaganyaan missions and Bharatiya Antriksh Station.

On seeing India from space, Shukla said, “When we saw India for the first time, we saw that India looks very big and grand, much bigger than what we see on the map. What we see on a map is a 2D picture that doesn’t match reality.”

“When we see the Earth from outside, it seems that no border exists, no state exists, no countries exist. We all are part of humanity, and the Earth is our one home, and all of us are in it. The Earth looks completely one, no border is visible from outside.”

When the Prime Minister asked Shukla which part of the world he was crossing at that point, the astronomer said the ISS crossed the Hawaii islands some time ago as he watched from the window. “We are flying at a speed of 28,000 km per hour, but we don’t feel the speed as we are inside,” he said.

Shukla became the 634th astronaut to travel to space at the end of a 28-hour journey around the Earth. He becomes the second Indian to go to space in 41 years after Rakesh Sharma's eight-day sojourn in 1984.