FROM LEARNING teamwork and resilience to understanding the importance of representation, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla shared his insights from the 400-km journey to the International Space Station (ISS) in July, at an event here on Friday.
He recounted an interaction with his mission commander Peggy Whitson, who, he said, had the last laugh. Shukla said because of his experience as an air force pilot, dealing with machines in the spacecraft came naturally to him. While he got the bragging rights as a fighter pilot, Whitson’s parting gift to him was a National Geographic magazine that had her photograph on the cover. She wrote a note on the cover that read, “I know you are a fighter pilot, but I took you higher and faster.”
Talking about Whitson, Shukla said, as a child growing up in Iowa, she saw the moon landing on her television and sold chickens to fund her education up to a PhD in biochemistry. She dreamt of becoming an astronaut and applied to NASA, but her application was rejected nine times. “I think most of us would take a hint after two or three times… She did not stop… This is to say that her initial rejections were not because she was not capable, her later achievements proved that beyond a doubt. Sometimes, the obstacles we face are not proportional to our abilities,” said Shukla, recounting one of his learnings.
Whitson went on to set the record of being an American astronaut with the highest number of days in space — her missions totalling to 695 days.
He said his training and journey to space made him realise the importance of cooperation and teamwork. “The International Space Station is truly one of humanity’s greatest achievements. We built a home where nature refuses to let us live — no air, no water, no protection — and yet it has been thriving for the past 25 years… The greatest legacy of the ISS is collaboration. It was built by five different space agencies, 15 different countries, all speaking the same language of space.”
Shukla said just before his interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the ISS, he was not feeling well. The sudden loss of gravity can lead to space sickness during an astronaut’s initial days in space. He had a headache and nausea, but he knew he had to make arrangements for the interaction. When he reached the area, he saw that one of his crewmates had already set up the camera and microphone. “That is teamwork, not in words but in action.”
He also recounted that he had to sit at the glove box — a glass box with gloves to reach inside and work on experiments — for nearly four hours at a stretch; his team mates brought him water and kept a fan close to his face because in space, CO2 collects near the face and does not dissipate due to the lack of gravity.
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Shukla said the journey also taught him the importance of representation. He said he initially thought his journey was not remarkable — he was after all the 634th person to reach space. The Group Captain said he understood its importance only after he returned to India and visited his school in Lucknow.
He said many in his school earlier did not know or care about the ISS. “They cared now because I was there. I understood the power of representation. Women and youth leaders, your presence in board rooms, labs, Parliament, and even in space capsules is not just symbolic, it’s catalytic.”
