Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian astronaut to travel to the International Space Station (ISS) at his official residence in Lok Kalyan Marg on Monday. Shukla was part of the Axiom-4 commercial mission to the ISS from June 25 to July 15.
Shukla, who was wearing an ISRO astronaut's jacket, was welcomed by the prime minister with a warm hug and walked with him with his arm on the astronaut's shoulder.
Shukla gifted the prime minister the mission patch of the Axiom-4 mission and the Indian tricolour that he had taken with him to the ISS. The same Indian tricolour was fluttering in the background on the ISS when Shukla interacted with Modi on June 29.
"Had a great interaction with Shubhanshu Shukla. We discussed a wide range of subjects including his experiences in space, progress in science and technology, as well as India's ambitious Gaganyaan mission. India is proud of his feat," Modi said in a post on X.
During his interaction with the prime minister, Shukla showed pictures he had taken from the ISS on a tablet computer.
Shukla was part of the Axiom-4 private space mission that lifted off from Florida on June 25 and docked at the International Space Station on June 26. He returned to Earth on 15 July. The prime minister had interacted with Shukla on June 29, in the initial days of the Axiom-4 mission that had docked at the ISS.
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He had also asked the astronaut to document his learning, training and stay at the International Space Station that would help India's future missions, including Gaganyaan. Shukla returned to India on Sunday.
In a press interaction earlier this month, Shukla said that he had fulfilled the task entrusted to him by Prime Minister Modi to document every aspect of his mission for the benefit of India's upcoming Gaganyaan programme.
"I remember very well the homework given to me by the prime minister. And I completed it very well. I am very excited to come back and share it with you all. I am confident that all that knowledge is going to prove extremely useful and crucial for us, for our own Gaganyaan mission," Shukla said on August 1.
Along with three other astronauts, Shukla conducted over 60 experiments and 20 outreach sessions during the 20-day Axiom-4 mission.
