'Yun hi chala chal'... fighter pilot, astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla sets off on space odyssey

New Delhi: As he zoomed into space on board the SpaceX Falcon 9-rocket on Wednesday, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shuka gave wing to the hopes of an entire nation - and realised his own dream that likely first took shape when he attended an air show as a child.

The 39-year-old, who propelled himself into history as the first Indian on the International Space Station and only the second to go into space after Rakesh Sharma in 1984, has more than 2,000 hours of flying experience on a wide range of fighter jets over a decade-long career in the Indian Air Force.

The Lucknow-born Shukla, who goes by the call sign 'Shux', is part of an ISRO-NASA supported commercial spaceflight by Axiom Space that blasted off for a 14-day sojourn to the International Space Station from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

Millions dream of soaring into space, to conquer that final frontier. And some like Shukla get to give it fruition.

His elder sister Suchi Shukla remembers when it all first started.

“As a child he had once been to an air show, and he later told me how he was fascinated by the speed and sound of the aircrafts. Then he had spoken of his dream to fly, but of course there was no telling at the time how quickly he would embrace his dream.

“As an Indian and as his sister, it’s definitely a very proud moment, for this space journey of my brother is carrying with them the hopes and blessings of a billion Indians,” Suchi told PTI ahead of the launch that was delayed several times.

He is carrying the taste of home with him in his space odyssey, she said.

The astronomer loves gajar ka halwa and moong dal ka halwa, she said. “He wanted co-passengers on his space journey to taste them as well," Suchi said.

He was selected to be part of India's astronaut corps in 2019 along with fellow test pilots Prasanth Balkrishnan Nair, Angad Pratap and Ajit Krishnan for the Gaganyaan mission, India's maiden human spaceflight, which is likely to be launched in 2027.

Born on October 10, 1985, in Lucknow, a year after his hero icon Rakesh Sharma’s historic spaceflight, Shukla did his schooling from City Montessori School (CMS) before joining the National Defence Academy.

"He has got that drive and that focus in him on what he wants in life. Once he decides, like, for example, to be the first Indian to go to the ISS, he focusses on it, puts his entire resources and his mind into it, and removes all other obstacles," said Nair, Shukla’s back-up astronaut.

He was commissioned into the Indian Air Force in 2006, and has over 2,000 hours of flying time on a wide range of aircraft including the Su-30 MKI, MiG-29, Jaguar, and Dornier-228.

He holds an MTech in Aerospace Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.

Shukla and the three other Gaganyaan astronaut designates underwent extensive training at Russia's Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre and ISRO's Astronaut Training Facility in Bengaluru.

Shukla's crewmates on the Axiom-4 mission, commander Peggy Whitson and mission specialists Tibor Kapu from Hungary and Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland, describe him as "operational-savvy", "focussed" and "wicked smart" when it comes to space technologies.

The crew shared their launch day playlist.

His was the song “Yun Hi Chala Chal…”, an ode to life road song about travel and more that he has taken to space. It is from “Swades”, the Shah Rukh Khan starrer quite coincidentally about a NASA scientist.

The astronauts began orbiting the Earth 10 minutes after the launch, prompting Shukla to announce India's return to human spaceflight after 41 years.

"Kamaal ki ride thi (It was a great ride)," Shukla said soon after the Dragon spacecraft was placed in orbit around the Earth at an altitude of 200 km.

"We are orbiting Earth at a speed of 7.5 km per second, I have the Indian tricolour embossed on my shoulders that tells me that I am with all of you," he said in Hindi.

"It is not just the start of my journey to the ISS but also of India's human spaceflight. I want each one of you to be part of this journey, let us embark on India's human space programme together."

Back home on Earth and in his hometown Lucknow, CMS president and manager Geeta Gandhi Kingdon perhaps put it best when she said, "We are all overjoyed. Though their rocket is yet to reach the space, we are already over the moon." "From a curious young learner in our classrooms to a pioneering astronaut, Shux's story beautifully encapsulates our school's mission of 'Education for World Unity and Peace'," she said.

This remarkable career almost never happened.

It was sheer providence that saw Shukla take his National Defence Academy (NDA) exam, his father Shambhu Shukla recalled.

“Some of his CMS classmates had brought up a form for NDA. One of them realized that he was overage by a few days and inquired from Shubhanshu if he would like to apply instead. That’s how it all started.” He recalled the exact moment when the family learnt that Shukla had been selected for the NDA.

“… truth be told, back then in 2001-2, we had a landline phone on which one of Shubhanshu’s friends had called. Mistaking me for my son, he had excitedly shared Shubhanshu's result. That's how we came to know about it. After that he went to take his interview and got selected there,” said Shambhu.

He added that the family would have liked to see the young man in the civil services.

But that was then.

Today was the day of celebration for not just his family but his school, peers, teachers, his city and the country.

In Lucknow, Shukla's school CMS organised a "public watch party" to celebrate his spaceflight.

CMS is also where he first met his wife Kamna though the couple had an arranged marriage, his father said.

They have a six-year-old son Kiash.

"The one great quality about my son is that even if you go to him with 400 kilogram of stress, you would return considerably lighter," he said.

During the 14-day stay at the ISS, the Ax-4 crew is expected to interact with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, school students, and space industry leaders, among others.

Shukla is set to conduct exclusive food and nutrition-related experiments developed under a collaboration between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), with support from NASA.

ISRO has lined up a set of seven experiments for Shukla, who will also participate in five joint studies planned by NASA for its human research programme.

It has drawn up plans to focus on India-centric food for carrying out experiments on the ISS, including sprouting methi (fenugreek) and moong (green gram) in microgravity conditions.