PM Modi meets India's 1st ISS astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla
Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla in New Delhi, celebrating his return from the Axiom-4 mission—the first time an Indian astronaut visited the International Space Station (ISS).
This marks a big step for India's human spaceflight program, integrating with ISRO's Gaganyaan initiative, in 2025.
Axiom-4 mission and its significance
The Axiom-4 mission, launched in late June 2025, saw Shukla and a global crew spend about two weeks at the ISS, running over 60 experiments.
Shukla led seven ISRO-backed studies on things like muscle regeneration and crop seeds in microgravity—work that could help future space missions and boost India's research game.
Shukla's achievement celebrated nationally
Shukla's achievement was cheered in Parliament, with leaders calling it a proud moment for Indian science.
As only the second Indian to travel to space since Rakesh Sharma in 1984, he's helping pave the way for more ambitious missions like Gaganyaan and putting India on the map for commercial spaceflight.