Indians will soon travel to space on indigenously made rocket: Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla

Indians would very soon travel to space on an indigenous rocket and crew capsule made and launched from India, said Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, who served as the mission pilot for the commercial Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4).

It was the fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station (ISS), where he spent 18 days, conducting seven microgravity experiments, before returning to Earth on July 15, 2025.

Collective effort

Speaking on the realities and possibilities of space missions at the Bengaluru Tech Summit here on Thursday, Mr. Shukla said missions of this scale should be a collective effort and need contributions from students, start-ups, and policymakers across the country.

He said India’s space sector already has over 300 active start-ups potentially capable of contributing to future space missions.

Narrating his experiences in the ISS, he said space travellers required to meet extreme physical demands of spaceflight which include enduring Eight G’s forces at launch and coping with disorientation in microgravity to facing rapid body weight loss and muscle loss and struggling to readapt to Earth’s gravity, learning to walk again after returning from the orbit.

Beautiful Bengaluru

According to him, India looked beautiful from space and Bengaluru, being brightly lit, was one of the most beautiful scenes anyone can witness from space.

He urged young people and innovators to help drive India toward becoming a developed nation by 2047.

“India looks bright from space, but our future is even brighter. Sky was never the limit — not for me, not for you, and not for Bharat,” Mr. Shukla said.

Tougher trip to venue than from space

At the finale, Minister for IT and BT Priyank Kharge made a humorous reference to Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla’s long travel to reach the venue, BIEC on Tumakuru Road.

Promising to keep the finale short, he said, “I’ll not take much time. I know everybody has to get back. Like Mr. Shukla said, it was easier for him to get from space to earth, but from Marathahalli to here was difficult. So, we will ensure that that it does not happen again,” the Minister told a packed audience, promising better infrastructure in the city.