On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, who is the pilot of the Axiom-4 Space Mission to the International Space Station (ISS), at his home in Delhi. Modi gave Shukla a warm hug when he saw him in an ISRO astronaut’s jacket.
Shukla gave PM Modi the Axiom-4 mission patch and showed him photographs of Earth taken from the ISS during the meeting. Shukla, who was the second Indian to go to space, came back to India early on Sunday and was greeted with cheers at the Delhi airport. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, Union Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Jitendra Singh, and ISRO Chairman Dr. V. Narayanan were among those who welcomed him.
#WATCH | Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, who was the pilot of Axiom-4 Space Mission to the International Space Station (ISS), meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi. pic.twitter.com/0uvclu9V2b
— ANI (@ANI) August 18, 2025
During his speech on Independence Day, PM Modi praised Shukla’s historic visit, adding, “Every citizen of the country is seeing the wonders of the space sector and is filled with pride.” Our Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla is back from the space station. Modi also talked about how India is getting ready for the “Aatmanirbhar Bharat Gaganyaan” mission and how it is developing its own space station.
Shukla’s Axiom-4 mission started on June 25 and ended with his return to Earth on July 15. He and the other astronauts did more than 60 scientific experiments while they were in orbit for 18 days.