In space, nationality fades; humanity comes first: Shubhanshu Shukla

Describing his experience at the ISS, Group Captain Shukla said that looking out from the station felt like being in an office with the best view possible

IAF Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, who became the first Indian to reach the International Space Station (ISS), said on Friday that when one leaves the planet to be in space, Earth becomes their identity.

Shukla, who was in Goa, said that nationality doesn't matter in space, as humanity takes precedence.

Describing his experience at the ISS, he said that looking out from the station felt like being in an office with the best view possible.

It was just too fascinating, he said, virtually addressing students from schools affiliated to the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, as part of a session titled Igniting Minds, Exploring Frontiers: The Convergence of Space, Education, and Industry'.

 

During the interactive session, he said people may have different identities in this world, but they blur when one is in space.

When you are a kid and going to school, our home and parents become our identity. When we go to college, the college becomes our identity. When you leave the city for another place, that city becomes your identity. When you go abroad, your country becomes your identity.

When I was training in the United States (for the space mission), my country was my identity. When you leave the planet, your planet becomes your identity. It is such a strong feeling, the entire Earth becomes your home, he said.

You do not zoom into a particular continent, a particular country, a particular region, or where you live. You just look at the Earth and say, this is where I live', he said.

Nationality doesn't matter in space as humanity takes precedence, he said.

Shukla recalled the iconic line Sare Jahan Se Accha, which India's first astronaut, Rakesh Sharma, had said to then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984. I now fully understand his sentiment and what prompted him to say it.

Shukla told the students that when one looks at the Earth from above, it will change their perspective.

When you are on Earth, you may become a very important person, assume big offices, but when you look at our planet from space, you realise how small and insignificant we truly are, he said.

Shukla said when he saw India for the first time from above, it was a very emotional moment for him.

He said that after spending two to three days in space, he was busy with his work one day when a NASA astronaut told him they would be flying over India.

He asked me whether I would like to have a look. Of course, I said. She then set up the cameras the site of flying over the entire country at night was exceptionally beautiful, and the emotions it evoked were very overwhelming, Shukla said.

Group Captain Shukla, an Indian Air Force officer and test pilot, completed his maiden space voyage as part of the Axiom-4 mission, a commercial spaceflight supported by ISRO and NASA, and operated by Axiom Space, in August.

The journey marked a milestone for India: Shukla is the first Indian to step aboard the ISS and only the second Indian to go into space, following Rakesh Sharma's iconic flight in 1984.  Space sector will propel India towards Viksit Bharat 2047

IAF Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian to reach the International Space Station (ISS), on Friday said space sector is a "very big powerful engine" that will propel India towards realising the dream of 'Viksit Bharat 2047'. Shukla, who scripted history by becoming the first Indian to set foot on the ISS as part of an 18-day Axiom-4 mission earlier this year, was talking to PTI after virtually addressing the students of the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) board from North Goa. "I think I am very confident that space is going to be a very big powerful engine that is going to propel India towards the Viksit Bharat 2047 dream. I am very excited to be a part of it," he said.  "I am confident that all the momentum that we have been able to create is going to get higher at every step with missions like Gaganyaan, Bharatiya Antariksh Station as well as eventually landing on the moon by 2040," he added. Gaganyaan is India's first human space-flight programme, while Bharatiya Antariksh Station is its planned orbital space station. Both the missions are led by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Shukla said space projects are not small dreams but are extremely complex missions that India is going to undertake. "We try to achieve such complex missions and develop the entire ecosystem to enable such missions to happen," he said.

Space will be an important sector for India to achieve its dream of Viksit Bharat 2047, according to him. Responding to a question about his experience of travelling to the ISS, Shukla said it was fascinating. "It is a very different experience. You prepare for it, but when you go, you actually travel, you know it is different," he said. Shukla said his space flight has been a great learning experience in terms of technical information and science.