New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla to his residence with a warm embrace on Monday and was presented a Tricolour that the astronaut brought back from space. Grp Capt Shukla returned to India earlier in the day after spending a year in the US, during which he travelled to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Axiom 4 Mission.
He is the first Indian to travel to the ISS. During his stay there, Shukla carried out several experiments assigned to him.
When the Prime Minister asked about the “homework” he was assigned, the astronaut replied: “Very good progress has been made, Sir.”
The Indian Air Force (IAF) officer then briefed Modi on his landmark mission and shared his experiences in space.
Recalling how colleagues reacted to the PM’s “homework”, Shukla said: “People laughed with me, and after that meeting, they teased me, saying ‘your Prime Minister has given you homework’. But I did it, and it was very important, Sir. Obviously, we were aware of it, that’s why I went. The mission was successful, Sir, and we have returned. But this is not the end of the mission; it is only the beginning.”
Grp Capt Shukla spent nearly 20 days in space as part of the mission, 18 of which were on the ISS. He docked on June 26 and landed back on Earth on July 15.
During the meeting, PM Modi also asked Mr Shukla about the changes he felt upon returning to Earth. He replied: “The brain takes time to understand that we have to walk. It does take a while to adapt back to this environment. When I came back, I was not able to walk, and people had to hold me up.”
The same adjustment process occurred when he first reached the ISS, he said.
Onboard the station, he conducted experiments on tardigrades, myogenesis, cyanobacteria, microalgae, crop seeds, and sprouting Indian staples such as moong (green gram) and fenugreek (methi).
Among these, he said, the sprouting of moong and fenugreek seeds drew special attention.
The PM asked how the experiment went and Shukla replied: “That was very good, Sir. I was very surprised that people there didn’t know about these things. Food is a very big challenge on a space station. Space is limited, cargo is expensive. The goal is always to pack the most nutrition and calories in the smallest space. These seeds are very easy to grow. Just a small dish with water, and in 8 days they had sprouted.”
He described them as India’s “little secrets,” adding that such simple crops could support astronauts in space and also help address food security challenges on Earth.
