Shubhanshu Shukla Redefines 'Sky is the Limit' with Space Mission

This is no longer the era when we would proclaim that 'the sky is the limit'. After Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla reached space, this definition has been changed. In fact, he himself coined it afresh, now “the sky is not the limit”. Shukla has become the second Indian to reach space, 41 years after Rakesh Sharma. He has also achieved the distinction of being the first Indian to step into that special space center.

Indian Air Force Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma was only 35 years old when he got the opportunity to be a part of the Soviet mission ‘Soyuz T-11’ in 1982. Born a year after Sharma’s mission, he became an inspiration for Shubhanshu Shukla from the very beginning. Initially it was not clear whether he would also be able to fly to space like his idol but he decided to become a test pilot first, following in the footsteps of Rakesh Sharma.

In 2019, when the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) invited applications from Air Force test pilots for human space missions, Shukla was selected along with three other pilots for the much-awaited Gaganyaan mission. ISRO was then working on India's first human space mission. In the middle of this four-year training programme, the opportunity of the Axiom-4 mission came up and Shukla was specifically selected for it. Shukla's mission is not a repeat of Rakesh Sharma's mission. It is happening at a time when India's space programme is touching new heights, India has reached the Moon and is planning to build its own space station in the next decade.

Also in the works are missions to land humans on the Moon and explore planets like Venus and Mars. These missions differ not only in timing but also in purpose, technology and impact on India's space programme. Rakesh Sharma's mission was a Soviet-led, diplomatic gesture that brought limited immediate technological benefits to India. Shubhanshu Shukla's mission is part of a commercial deal.

Both Indian astronauts are fighter pilots and test pilots from the Indian Air Force. While Sharma was a research astronaut in the Soviet mission, Shukla was named as the spacecraft pilot for the US mission. Both underwent rigorous selection and training processes at the international level to become astronauts. Sharma's mission was a product of the Indo-Soviet partnership - a goodwill mission that symbolised scientific exchange and friendship. He spent nearly 8 days on the Soviet space station Salyut 7 and conducted 43 experiments, mainly on biomedicine and remote sensing. Shukla's mission is a trip to the International Space Station (ISS) operated not under a government agreement but by a private US company Axiom Space.

India has secured its seat in it commercially. Shukla will spend two weeks in this mission and will carry out about 60 experiments, at least 7 of which are designed by ISRO. Sharma flew with two Russian cosmonauts on a Soviet space rocket during the Cold War era when India-Russia defence ties, especially in the air force, were at their peak - the then purchase of MiG fighters, transport aircraft and helicopters being an example. As far as launch vehicles go, the Falcon-9 is technologically far more advanced. It can carry heavier loads and its first stage can be reused. The Soyuz rocket was completely non-recyclable and its first flight took place in 1973, while the first launch of the Falcon-9 took place in 2010. Sharma and his fellow astronauts used two separate crew capsules - T-11 and T-10, while Shukla and his team will go to space and return in the Dragon C-213 spacecraft.

The orbital altitude is also quite different. Salyut 7 was at an altitude of 219–278 km above the Earth, while the ISS orbits at an altitude of about 400 km. Salyut's mission lasted 9 years and ended in 1991. While Sharma's experiments were mainly related to biomedicine and remote sensing, Shukla's scope is much broader, such as mental and physical effects of screens in micro-gravity in space, causes and treatment of muscle atrophy, effects of space on the germination process of seeds, etc.

When Sharma left in 1984, India's space program was in its infancy but today ISRO is a world leader, it has sent spacecraft to the Moon, sent missions to the Sun, planned exploration of Mars and Venus and is working towards human space flight. India today has an independent satellite network which is used for communication, research and land survey and emotionally, Shukla's 18-minute long conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi from space became a historic moment. Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked many important questions during the conversation but one very special question was- how does India look from space?

Shukla said- When we saw India from space for the first time, it really looked very grand and vast. What looks limited on the map looks much bigger from space.

Mr. Modi said that now the responsibility of taking the Gaganyaan mission forward, building India's own space station and landing Indian astronauts on the moon lies with the youth like Shukla. The Prime Minister himself had also come fully prepared. He knew that Shukla had taken Gajar ka Halwa. He asked smilingly, did you share the Halwa with your friends? Shukla said laughingly, "Yes, I did share the Halwa, I also took Aamras and some Indian sweets with me, which everyone tasted." He also said that sleep was definitely a challenge but every moment was a new experience and there was a lot to learn. This entire conversation kept people across the country glued to the television screen.