BENGALURU: Group Captain, astronaut, and Axiom-4’s mission pilot Shubhanshu Shukla aka Shux is holding frequent interactions with eminent people, experts and students from his new residence- the International Space Station (ISS).
On July 5, he held a telephonic interaction with V Narayanan, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). “I told him to record and note everything. It will help our missions in the long run, especially the Gaganyaan mission,” Narayanan told TNIE.
Narayanan said, “So far, we only had Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian in space, contributing his knowledge, but now we have two more astronauts- Shukla and Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair. The training the two have had is very valuable for India.”
“I used to talk to Shux every day when I was in Florida. Though this was a courtesy call, it was also important to keep him motivated and reinforce the confidence that we all have in him. Shux briefed us about his experiments and that they were progressing as per schedule. There is not one experiment or information that is not important to us,” Narayanan said.
Commenting on the expected date of Shux’s splashdown, Narayanan said they were expected to splash down on July 12 or 13. But NASA will confirm the final date after assessing all parameters and after a detailed discussion with all stakeholders. “The safety of the astronauts and the success of the mission are important,” Narayanan said, adding that the mission has been successful so far.
ISRO scientists said the inputs obtained from Shux so far have been noted, and the team is assessing how the Gaganyaan mission can be improved. “The launch of the mission cannot be advanced as there are many components and safety aspects. But we are targeting March 2027,” said ISRO scientists.
Unnikrishnan Nair, Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC); M Mohan, Director of Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC); Padmakumar ES, Director of ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU); M Ganesh Pillai, Scientific Secretary of ISRO; and N Vedachalam, ex- Director of LPSC, were also present during the interaction.