NEW DELHI – Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla flew back to Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on Sunday, where he was greeted with warmth. This marked the end of his historic adventure as the first Indian to visit the International Space Station (ISS). Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, Union Minister of Science and Technology Jitendra Singh, and ISRO Chairman Dr. V. Narayanan, among other dignitaries, welcomed Shukla, who was the mission pilot for the Axiom-4 mission.
Shukla, a test pilot for the Indian Air Force, was the first Indian to go to space in 41 years, since Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma’s flight in 1984. The Axiom-4 crew launched from Florida on a SpaceX Dragon spaceship on June 25, 2025, starting their journey. The mission ended with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on July 15, after 18 days in orbit.
A Big Step Forward for India’s Space Program
Shukla and his crewmates from the U.S., Poland, and Hungary did more than 60 scientific experiments and 20 outreach activities while they were on the ISS. The Indian Space Scientific Organization’s Human Space Flight Center (HSFC) worked with Indian scientific institutions to create at least seven of these experiments. These tests looked at a lot of different things, such as how muscles heal, how well crops grow, and how long microbes can live in a microgravity environment.
People think that Shukla’s voyage is a very important milestone for India’s own human spaceflight program, Gaganyaan. He is one of four people picked to be astronauts for the initiative, which wants to send Indian astronauts to a low-Earth orbit. The Gaganyaan project will benefit greatly from the information and experience he gained throughout his journey.
Shukla is set to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he gets back. Before going back to the capital for the National Space Day celebrations on August 22 and 23, he will also go to his hometown of Lucknow. The events will celebrate India’s recent successes in space, such as the momentous landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon’s South Pole on August 23, 2023.