BENGALURU: Six days after interacting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Group Captain and now astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla (call sign Shux) interacted with with an inquisitive bunch of students from Bengaluru aboard the International Space Station (ISS)
While answering some concerning and some technical questions, Shux said, “The most difficult task on the ISS is to sleep. While you can sleep anywhere, you do not want to sleep as it you are here for a very short time.”
He said there is so much of excitement and there are so many activities lined up. But rest is also very important for all the works ahead. He was replying to the query- What is the most difficult task in your daily schedule, raised by Kavitha N, a Grade-10 student.
Shux had a 12 minute long interaction with students through HAM Radio organised by Ameteur Radio on the ISS (ARISS) and AMSET on Friday. The team from Bengaluru established a contact through Telebridge with the satellite station through Maryland in the US. Ten handpicked students from Karnataka Public School Domlur and Jeevan Bheema Nagar, by ISRO asked 13 pre- approved questions to Shux.
He said, compared to the capsule where he had spent a lot of his time sleeping in the small space, the space in the ISS was big and one can move around easily, that is nice and also a concern.
“It feels very light here. Since there is no weight, it is like you are swimming in air. The body takes time to get used to it as we are used to being in gravity. It is important to understand this. The orientation is different. You are going up and down and you can lift very objects very easily as they all floating.” he said.
Replying to the question raised by Aryan, Grade-9 student, kene to know his experience during the rocket launch and docking, Shux said, the experience was exhilarating.
“The rocket launched very fast as you go higher you go faster. The velocity was 8km/sec. The first stage launch was fast and the second stage was even faster. We were floating in free flight for the first one and half days,” he said, adding that the entire docking exercise was very exciting, for the way the ISS was stationed and how the capsule entered and locked into it.
The excitement at the UR Rao Satellite Centre, from where the interaction was being held was palpable. The cheer and enthusiasm among the students also excited Shux who is the first Indian astronaut to have an interaction with Indian students for the second consecutive day. On July 3, Shux had an interaction with students from Thirivananthapuram.
However this was the first HAM radio interaction and the second is scheduled to be held from Shillong on July 8. Shux’ mentor Rakesh Sharma, who was the first Indian in space had interacted with former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. As part of Axiom-4 mission, Shux has completed 113 orbits of the Earth by July 3, marking a distance of 4.66 million km.
Using his off-day as a day of interaction with friends, family and students, Shux also shared how his crewmates relished the specially prepared Gajar-ka-halwa, Moong-dal halwa and Aam Rass, he had carried. He said, the mission is helping all countries work together and also share their countries’ delicacies.
On the query of what was the most beautiful seen from the ISS, Shux said the vantage point was the Earth’s image. Seeing the image of the Earth is very exciting each time. Shux also shared information with students of the experiments he was conducting and said, the most challenging and exciting experiments are on the stem cells and how muscles react in micro-gravity.
Among the team of experts and scientists who were present, was Shux friend and Gaganyatri crewmate Group Captain Angad Pratap. Reacting to Shux from ISS, Pratap said he felt as Shux was talking to him. ISRO Chairman V Narayanan said, the aim of the interaction was to motivate students to join space and draw young minds to the field.
