Shubhanshu Shukla returns to India to a warm welcome

New Delhi: Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla returned to India in the early hours of Sunday after his historic visit to the International Space Station (ISS).

Shukla, who has been in the US training for the Axiom-4 mission to the ISS over the past year, was welcomed at the airport by Union Minister Jitendra Singh, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, and ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan.

Shukla's backup astronaut, Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair, also returned to the homeland.

Shukla is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and travel to his hometown, Lucknow, shortly. He is also expected to return to the capital to participate in the National Space Day celebrations on August 22–23.

India’s space glory touches Indian soil... as the iconic son of Mother India, #Gaganyatri Shubhanshu Shukla, lands in Delhi in the early hours of this morning. Accompanying him, another equally accomplished Group Captain Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair, one of the astronauts selected for India’s first human mission Gaganyaan, who was India’s designated backup for the mission to the International Space Station #ISS," Singh said in a post on X.

Earlier on Saturday, Shukla had posted a smiling photograph of himself sitting in an aeroplane on Instagram, saying he was filled with mixed emotions as he left the US and looked forward to returning to India to share his experiences with everyone back home.

"As I sit on the plane to come back to India, I have a mix of emotions running through my heart. I feel sad leaving a fantastic group of people behind who were my friends and family for the past year during this mission. I am also excited about meeting all my friends, family, and everyone in the country for the first time post-mission. I guess this is what life is – everything all at once," Shukla said in the post.

"Having received incredible love and support from everyone during and after the mission, I can’t wait to come back to India to share my experiences with all of you. Goodbyes are hard, but we need to keep moving in life. As my commander Peggy Whitson fondly says, ‘The only constant in spaceflight is change.’ I believe that applies to life as well," he added.

Shukla also wrote, "I guess at the end of the day – 'Yun hi chala chal rahi – jeevan gaadi hai samay pahiya'," recalling the song from the Bollywood movie Swades, which was on his playlist just before he embarked on the Axiom-4 mission to the ISS on June 25 from the US.

Shukla and his backup astronaut Prashanth Nair participated in the Independence Day celebrations at the Indian Consulate in Houston on Friday.

Addressing the 79th Independence Day celebrations at the Red Fort, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said India was developing its own space station and noted that Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla had returned from a space mission.

"Our Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla has returned from the space station. In the coming days, he is returning to India," Modi had said.

Shukla was part of the Axiom-4 private space mission that lifted off from Florida on June 25 and docked at the International Space Station on June 26. He returned to Earth on 15 July.

Along with three other astronauts — Peggy Whitson (US), Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski (Poland), and Tibor Kapu (Hungary) — Shukla conducted over 60 experiments and 20 outreach sessions during the 18-day mission.