Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, astronaut and India's 21st century space hero, may meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi this Monday and apprise him of his experiences that will help India in its maiden human spaceflight programme, sources said.
Mr Shukla is already on his way back to India, which would mark his first homecoming after piloting the successful Axiom-4 mission to the International Space Station. Posting a smiling photo from the plane, he said he can't wait to return 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 one 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," his post read.
"Goodbyes are hard but we need to keep moving in life. As my commander @astro_peggy fondly says “the only constant in spaceflight is change”. I believe that applies to life as well. I guess at the end of the day -“Yun hi chala chal rahi - jeevan gaadi hai samay pahiya”," he added.
He is expected to land in India tomorrow. Besides meeting PM Modi, he will also participate in the National Space Day celebrations on August 23.
The astronaut had returned to Earth last month after spending 18 days on board the ISS, during which he had conducted seven India-specific experiments. Those have now been brought back for a review by Indian scientists and the results are expected soon.
During his spaceflight preparations, the PM had asked Mr Shukla to document the entire sequence of his training and stay at the space station, for what would become the handbook for Gaganyaan, first human spaceflight program of India.
The ambitious program aims to launch an Indian astronaut on an Indian rocket from Indian soil, using indigenous technology, and become only the fourth country in the world to achieve this feat. The first was Russia (then USSR), followed by the US, and then China. China did it in 2003, and no other country since has succeeded in sending humans to space using their own technology.
Mr Shukla, who has had more than a year of training in the US, has already laid the first steps for the program. During this time, he has trained at NASA, Axiom, and SpaceX facilities. Now, as he returns to India, he will help the country prepare for its human spaceflight.
Group Captain Prashant Balakrishna Nair, who was the standby astronaut for Axiom, also received the same training and is expected to contribute to the spaceflight program.
India is making fast strides in the space sector and has an elaborate plan to have its own space station, which will likely take another decade.
Yesterday, in his Independence Day speech, PM Modi reiterated the plans for having a Bharatiya Antariksh Station (or the Indian Space Station) and to land an Indian on the moon by 2040. Group Captain Shukla and three other astronaut-designates were chosen a few years back, and they were all training to be part of Gaganyaan.
For Gaganyaan, Launch Vehicle Mark 3 has been made human spaceflight ready, but India is still struggling with the crew module. The environment life control system is taking longer to master, simply because the components cannot be imported.
