New Delhi: ISRO Gaganyatri Shubhanshu Shukla met Prime Minister Narendra Modi after returning to India from the US on August 16. The Axiom 4 mission lifted
off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on 25 June, on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9, with the brand new SpaceX Dragon returning to the Earth with a splashdown off the coast of Southern California on 15 July. Shukla Shukla spent a week in quarantine and completed the readjustment procedures, then went through detailed debriefings with ISRO, Axiom Space, SpaceX and NASA. Shukla received a hero’s welcome home, after successfully conducting the second orbital spaceflight by an Indian citizen.
Met with the Hon PM today. Last time I spoke to him virtually was from Orbit with this same flag in the background on the @iss. I cannot describe how proud I felt that day representing Bharat and today when I was speaking to the PM @narendramodi Like I said this is just the first… pic.twitter.com/TsKGZmG8Ya
— Shubhanshu Shukla (@gagan_shux) August 18, 2025
Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed Shubhanshu Shukla to his Lok Kalyan Marg residence with open arms. Shukla presented PM Modi with the Axiom 4 mission patch, as well as the national flag that was flown in the background during an interaction between the two on 28 June, during which Shukla described his experience of living and working on board the orbital complex, the science experiments he was conducting for Indian researchers, and how the Axiom 4 mission stands to benefit ISRO’s ambitious Gaganyaan programme to lift humans to Earth orbit with domestic hardware. ISRO is gearing up to launch the first Gaganyaan mission, an uncrewed technology demonstration flight with an unpressurised crew module by the end of the year.
Special session in Lok Sabha
Yesterday, there was a special session in the Lok Sabha on the Axiom 4 mission. Minister of State for Space, Jitendra Singh provided an outline of the Axiom 4 mission, highlighting that ISRO was an equal participant with Shukla being given the important role of Pilot, explained how the experiments conducted by an Indian and designed by Indian scientists will benefit everyone on the planet, and how the Axiom 4 mission will help iron out the kinks and fill in the procedural gaps for India’s Gaganyaan programme. The opposition was just creating a ruckus and constantly disrupting the session, and refused to participate in the discussion, because of which the proceedings were adjourned.
