Indian fighter pilot and astronaut, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, 40, has done something that no other Indian has – journeyed more than 12.2 million km in space over 18 days, circled the earth 288 times from 400 km above. While his ascent—literally—to space was a matter of pride to Indians, his safe return today has taken away a breath-holding suspense. Now that he is back, here is a look back at all that happened.
Who were the players of this mission?
The agencies involved in this mission are NASA, Axiom-4 and SpaceX. NASA is the US space agency which part-owns the International Space Station (ISS).
Axiom-4 is an American company that provides all services needed for private astronaut missions to the ISS by providing services such as training. It intends to build its own module that will initially stay attached to the ISS and later become a standalone space-station, once the ISS is retired, which is likely in 2030.
SpaceX is the Elon Musk owned rocket company whose Falcon 9 rocket carried the Crew Dragon spacecraft, which was Shukla’s ‘coach’.
So, NASA took an Indian onboard—but for what? Did India pay NASA a fee?
It was a goodwill gesture.There is growing collaboration between India and the US, for space activities. Shortly, the Rs 5,000-crore NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite is to be sent up to space from India. In 2023, India signed the NASA-led Artemis Accord, which is a template agreement for space collaboration among signatory countries. So, NASA taking an Indian was a symbolic acknowledgment of the growing cooperation between the two countries. No fee was paid to NASA for taking Shukla. That said, India picked-up Shukla-related costs. While no official figure has been mentioned, it is believed that India’s bill would be between $55-70 million, which would include payments to Axiom-4.
To some, Shukla’s voyage looks like a child’s ride on a joy carousel, even if some experiments were done by him in the ISS. After all, these experiments could have been done by anybody on behalf of India, right?
Such a view is puerile. It can be counter-argued that any experiment can be done by robots, why send any astronaut at all? The reality runs deeper.
Shukla’s was not a joyride in someone else’s vehicle, to do some experiments just because he happened to be there. The Indian astronaut’s space odyssey has turned him into a ‘knowledge node’, and hence made him extremely valuable for ISRO’s Gaganyaan mission.
Shukla now has hands-on experience on-board the ISS, which is very useful in areas such as docking, handling emergencies, physical and mental health issues, and crew coordination. He has personally sampled prolonged isolation and psychological adaptation. In other words, he is a walking data bank—data that will help ISRO fine-tune medical protocols, re-entry procedures and real-time telemetry, for the Gaganyaan mission. Walking into the Gaganyaan mission without Shukla’s experience would be like diving into a pool after learning to swim from a book.
Experiential data would be different for an Indian than a Caucasian. Now that Shukla is back with a rich cache of experiences, he is a resource that other Indian astronauts can tap into.
At another level, the seven experiments that Shukla conducted are India-specific.
What are these experiments?
Shubhanshu Shukla conducted over 60 experiments under seven India-specific heads.
One, muscle degeneration and recovery under microgravity. The experiment included traditional Ayurvedic supplements (ashwagandha and giloy) to observe their regenerative potential.
Second, seed germination and plant growth. NASA and ESA have experimented with plants that they need—lettuce, wheat and mustard. Shukla tried moong, methi and mustard—the Indian strains.
Three, genetic response in plants, to check out how microgravity affects gene expressions—in Indian crop seeds.
Four, tardigrade survival. Targidrades—tiny, millimetre thick water-bears are animals that are known to survive extreme conditions, both hot and cold. Earlier experiments with tardigrades used American or European animals. Shukla did it with Indian strains. This study, it is hoped, will give us lessons for developing biological shielding and protective drugs for astronauts.
Five experiments to see how Indian strains of cyanobacteria make food (photosynthesize) in space—useful for oxygen regeneration, CO2 capture and making foods in space.
Six, human-machine interface—how machines (computers, touchscreens, motors, etc. behave in space. Shukla’s tests were on Indian-designed digital interfaces.
And seven—psychological resilience and cognitive function. Having gone through the ‘ring of fire,’ Shukla will now be able to impart training to other Indian astronauts.
Why Shubhanshu Shukla?
Shubhanshu Shukla combines military and aerospace skills. He is a fighter pilot and has flown all kinds of fighter planes that the Indian Air Force has. He also has an M.Tech in aerospace engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. After being selected in 2019 for Gaganyaan, he also underwent training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Russia. Today, with over 10 million km under his belt, he is the most travelled Indian.
Published on July 15, 2025