New Delhi, Jan 25 (PTI) Shubhanshu Shukla was born in Lucknow about 18 months after Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to go to space. Four decades later, the IAF fighter pilot scripted history by taking the tricolour back to space.
Last June, the air warrior became the first Indian astronaut to travel to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Axiom-4 mission.
On the eve of Republic Day on Sunday, Group Captain Shukla was awarded the Ashoka Chakra, India’s highest peacetime gallantry award, in recognition of his trailblazing feat.
Born in Lucknow on October 10, 1985, Shukla grew up as a “shy and reserved” person, hearing stories of the 1984 spaceflight of Rakesh Sharma in his childhood days.
Shukla’s nearly 20-day space odyssey in 2025 came 41 years after cosmonaut Sharma flew aboard a Russian Soyuz in April 1984.
Far from being the “shy boy” that he was, Shukla now delivers motivational speeches at a plethora of events, faces queries from mediapersons with confidence, and enjoys the adulation showered upon him, as seen on many occasions.
Last August, soon after his return from the ISS, Shukla, Group Captain Prashanth B Nair, along with two other astronauts chosen for the Gaganyaan mission, were felicitated by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at the Air Force auditorium in Subroto Park here.
At the event, Shukla was seen signing autographs for school students and obliging fellow air warriors who queued up to get clicked with him.
Shukla, who goes by the callsign ‘Shux’, also shared his journey of joining the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the experiences and challenges he faced while being part of the Axiom-4 mission to the ISS.
Life, like his space sojourn, has indeed come a full circle for Shukla.
He did his schooling from the City Montessori School (CMS) in Lucknow, before fate and determination brought him under the wings of the Indian Air Force.
Shukla credited the IAF for the transformation it brought in him, saying the “IAF in general, and cockpit in particular” have been “great teachers” in his life.
Post the mission, Shukla returned to India from the US in August last year, and after the Delhi felicitation ceremony, he visited his hometown Lucknow for the first time since the historic spaceflight.
The astronaut was greeted at the airport by his parents, Shambhu and Asha Shukla, wife Kamna, and son Kiash, with cheering crowds waving the tricolour and chanting “Vande Mataram”.
Along with Shukla, Major Arshdeep Singh and Naib Subedar Doleshwar Subba of the Army, and Group Captain Nair of the IAF were awarded the Kirti Chakra, the second-highest peacetime gallantry award. PTI KND ARI
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