Following Axiom-4 pilot Shubhanshu Shukla's historic achievement of becoming the first Indian to grace the International Space Station (ISS), Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday conversed with him via video conferencing.
Group Captain Shukla had been part of a prestigious 4-member team chosen for the Axiom-4 mission, for which he piloted SpaceX's Dragon capsule from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre.
"The sky is never the limit," Shukla explained, when asked about his message to the youth of the nation. "Not for you, not for me, not for India."
Shukla had been accompanied by Mission Commander Peggy Whitson from NASA, as well as European Space Agency (ESA) mission specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland, and Tibor Kapu from Hungary.
Modi reminded Shukla, who is set to begin a two-week stay at the ISS, that the latter carried the "wishes, hopes and aspirations of 1.4 billion Indians".
"Parikrama (circumambulation, or the Hindu ritual of circling around an object of devotion) has been a centuries-old tradition in India, and you have been blessed with the rare opportunity to perform the parikrama of Mother Earth herself," Modi added, referencing the Dragon space craft's docking process around the Earth.
Shubhanshu Shukla is also the first Indian to cross the 'Kármán Line' in more than 40 years, after Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma's historic mission aboard the Soviet Soyuz T-11 on April 3, 1984. The Kármán Line refers to an imaginary boundary located approximately 100km above sea level, which is generally perceived as the separation between the Earth's atmosphere and outer space.
"This isn't the beginning of my journey to ISS, but the beginning of India's human space flight programme," he said, after the Dragon had just left the Earth.
Soft docking occurred at around 4:02 PM IST, with the full docking procedure completed just before 4:20 PM IST, culminating a series of precise manoeuvres towards the ISS that took 28 hours.
"You may be the farthest from Indian soil, but you are the closest to the hearts of its people. Even your name carries the word ‘Shubh’ (auspicious), and your journey marks a new and hopeful beginning ... I extend my heartfelt congratulations and wish you the very best for your mission," the Indian Prime Minister towards the end, wishing him good luck on behalf of 140 crore Indians.