BENGALURU: It was a proud moment not just for Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla (call sign Shooks) but for the entire country as the first Indian piloted the Dragon spacecraft and docked ahead of the planned schedule into the International Space Station as a part of the Axiom-4 mission.
Shortly after the docking, Shukla thanked Peggy Whitson, former NASA astronaut and director of the human spaceflight mission.
"Thank you Peggy. I am number [Astronaut Number] 634, that’s a privelege (laughs). But, to be fair, it is a privelege to be among the few who have got a chance to see the earth from a vantage point that I have been able to see now," he said.
Describing his experience on the spacecraft, Shukla did not hide his excitement when he said, “It has been a wonderful ride. It has been great. I was looking forward to come to space. It is something to look forward to."
He went on to say that the crew at the International Space station made him feel at home.
"But the minute I entered the International Space Station… this crew (points at the Expedition-73 crew already aboard the ISS) made me feel so welcome. You literally opened the doors to your house for us. It was fantastic. I feel even better," he said.
“Whatever expectations I had before coming here were surpassed by the view, of course — that’s a big part of it — but you guys as well. So, thank you so much," he added.
He also expressed confidence that the coming days at the space station would be even more "amazing.'
“This was fantastic. This was wonderful and I am very confident that the next 14 days are going to be amazing doing — as you said — advancing science and research and working together. Thank you so much,” the indian astronaut said.
The docking mission was commanded by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) crew and they were accompanied by Roscosmos-Russian Space Agency team from the ISS. The commercial space mission (Axiom-4) and the soft docking happened into the ISS at 4.01pm.
The docking process was completed at 4.15 pm with the hard module. “Grace is Happy to on Harmony,” Whitson said after the docking was completed. The ISS was hovering over the North Atlantic at the time of the docking.
Communication and coordination between the Mission Control Huston ground station, ISS and Dragon Spacecraft were constantly maintained to ensure that there was an unhindered docking. The view points from the ISS was constantly maintained to ensure the docking process happens smoothly.
The ISS team guiding Shukla and Peggy said directed Dragon, “Manual and repulsive retreat and breakout are not permitted."
It reached 20 minutes away from the ISS at 3.57 pm IST. Zenith module of the ISS- Harmony Module was seen from Dragon at 3.58 pm IST, where the Dragon docked.
A few minutes after the docking a trouble shooter alert was sounded on the communication systems. The astronauts sought for at least five minutes before starting the hatch open procedures to continue their entry into the ISS to undertake the designed experiments and a 14-day stay at the ISS.
While this is Peggy’s second visit to the ISS, it is the first for Shukla and mission specialist astronauts- Stawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary.