Group Captain Subhanshu Shukla became the first Indian astronaut to travel to the International Space Station (ISS). he addressed the New Delhi media on Thursday and spoke about his experience of spending 20 days in space during the Axion-4 Mission.
group Captain Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair joined Shukla, who was his backup for the Axiom-4 Mission. Both astronauts shared their views on the mission and India’s future in space exploration.
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Nair’s Heartfelt Tribute
Nair referred to Shukla as ‘Rama’ during the interaction with the media. He stated, “A few months from now, we will have Diwali. That’s the time when Shri Ram ji entered Ayodhya. We are here right now to the Rama that is Shux, I can call myself Laxman. It feels like Diwali here today, and all our countrymen are here to receive us. But remember, I am older than Shux, I would love to be Laxman to this Ram every day. Shri Ram and Laxman got a lot of help from the Vanar sena, that is, our fantastic ISRO team. Thank you, Hanuman and the team.”
Watch:
#LIVE– Group Captain Prashant B Nair on India’s historic space feat:
“Feels like Diwali… I feel like Laxman to my Ram (says pointing towards Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla. And the entire Vanar Sena of ISRO made this possible” | #WATCH#ISRO #SpaceMission #ShubhanshuShukla pic.twitter.com/Hn984hZT14
— News18 (@CNNnews18) August 21, 2025
India’s Space Ambitions
Shukla and Nair are included in the upcoming Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme. India expects to build their own space station by 2035 and land on the moon by 2040.
ALSO READ: Shubhanshu Shukla Shares ‘Space Life’ with PM Modi | WATCH
Shukla on his Space Experience
Shukla described his experience as highly successful. He mentioned that he was able to achieve all the objectives.
“The benefit of executing a human space mission is more than the training. The supplementary knowledge we get just by being there is invaluable. All the information I have collected in the past year will be extremely useful to us for our own missions, Gaganyaan and Bharatiya Antariksh Station… Very soon we shall send someone from our capsule, from our rocket and our soil… The experience is very different from what you learn on the ground. The body goes through a lot of changes… The body forgets how to live in gravity after spending 20 days in space,” he said.
