Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday interacted with Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian aboard the International Space Station, through a video-link conversation and said although Shubhanshu Shukla is presently the farthest from the Indian motherland, he remains closest to the hearts of all Indians. He noted that Shubhanshu’s name itself carries auspiciousness, and his journey marks the beginning of a new era.
Asked by the Prime Minister to speak about his first thought after reaching space, the Indian astronaut spotlighted that “no border is visible” and that India looks “very grand, very big”.
“The first view was of the Earth and after seeing the Earth from space, the first thought and the first thing that came to mind was that the Earth looks completely one, no border is visible from space. When we saw India for the first time, we saw that India really looks very grand, looks very big, much bigger than what we see on the map... When we see the Earth from outside, it seems that no border exists, no state exists and no countries exist. We all are part of humanity, and the Earth is our one home, and all of us are in it,” said Shukla.
The ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ slogan reverberated on the International Space Station as Prime Minister Narendra Modi told astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla that his space travel marked the beginning of a new era and was the first step towards Mission Gaganyaan, India’s own human spaceflight project.
“Today, you are away from our motherland, but you are the closest to the hearts of Indians...Aapke naam mein bhi shubh hai aur aapki yatra naye yug ka shubharambh bhi hai, (Your name carries the word shubh (auspicious), and that his journey marked the auspicious beginning of a new era.)” PM Modi told the Indian astronaut.
Answering the Prime Minister, Shukla said it is “not my journey alone but also our country’s”, adding that he is absorbing these new experiences like a sponge.
Modi told the Lucknow-born astronaut that his historic journey was not just limited to space, but would add fresh momentum to the march towards Viksit Bharat (developed India).
“We have to take Mission Gaganyaan forward. We must build our own space station. And we must ensure that an Indian astronaut lands on the Moon. Your experiences will play a crucial role in all these future missions. I am confident that you are diligently recording every bit of your experience,” the Prime Minister said.
Shukla is also the second Indian to go to space after 41 years and the first since Rakesh Sharma’s eight-day sojourn in 1984. Asked by the Prime Minister to describe what he has seen so far, Shukla said, “A short while ago, when I was looking out of the window, we were flying over Hawaii. We see sunrise and sunset 16 times a day from orbit...Our nation is moving forward at a very great pace...”
The Indian astronaut said “everything is different here”.
“We trained for a year and I learnt about different 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 told the Prime Minister.
He humorously noted that during the conversation, he had to tie his feet down-otherwise, he’d just float away.
During the interaction, the prime minister also asked Group Captain Shukla if he had Gajar ka halwa he took along with him, to which he replied that astronauts from other countries on ISS joined him for enjoying rich Indian cuisine.
“Yes, I bought gajar ka halwa, moong dal ka halwa and aam ras. I wanted everyone who joined me from other countries to enjoy the rich Indian cuisine. All of us had it together and everyone liked it,” Shukla said.
The Prime Minister remarked, with a touch of humour, that although Shubhanshu is in space where gravity is nearly absent, every Indian can see how grounded he remains.
Shukla and three other astronauts entered the orbital laboratory at ISS on Thursday to warm hugs and handshakes after the docking of their spacecraft at the end of a 28-hour journey around the Earth.
“With your love and blessings, I have reached the International Space Station. It looks easy to stand here, but my head is a little heavy, facing some difficulty; but these are minor issues,” he said in brief remarks in Hindi at the formal welcome ceremony at the ISS.
A live video link from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) showed the four-member multi-nation crew emerging from the Dragon spacecraft named ‘Grace’, less than two hours after the sequence of docking with the ISS was completed at 4.15 pm IST on Thursday.
The spacecraft was put into a low-earth orbit by SpaceX’s Falcon rocket that was launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida at 12.01 pm on Wednesday.
The seven-member space station crew, who are part of Expedition 73, welcomed Axiom-4 mission commander Peggy Whitson, as she floated into the station soon after the hatch-opening procedures were completed at 5:44 pm.
Shukla said over the next 14 days, he and the other astronauts will conduct scientific experiments and interact with people on Earth.
“This is also a phase of India’s space journey. I will keep talking to you. Let us make this journey exciting. I am carrying the tiranga and I am carrying all of you with me. The next 14 days will be exciting,” he said.
As the Dragon spacecraft circled the Earth before the completion of docking with the ISS, Shukla also shared his experience via a videolink from the capsule to say he was learning to live in microgravity conditions “like a baby” and it was an amazing experience to float in vacuum.