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Just hours before undocking from the ISS, Shubhanshu had managed to place a brief satellite call to his parents—a moment that would be etched in their memory forever
Huddled around a screen at the City Montessori School (CMS), where a special event was organised to screen the landing live, his parents—Asha and Shambhu Dayal Shukla—watched the final moments of re-entry with bated breath. Pic/News18
As the Dragon capsule splashed into the Pacific off the California coast, 13,000 km away in Lucknow, a mother’s trembling hands folded in silent prayer. Group captain shubhanshu shukla had returned from a 20-day stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS), but for his family, it felt like a lifetime. Huddled around a screen at the City Montessori School (CMS), where a special event was organised to screen the landing live, his parents—Asha and Shambhu Dayal Shukla—watched the final moments of re-entry with bated breath.
“It felt like my heart had stopped beating,” said his mother, Asha, her voice choking with emotion. “When the capsule touched the ocean, I just cried. For me, it was as if he’d been born again,” she told News18.
‘This Is My Last Call…’
Just hours before undocking from the ISS, Shubhanshu had managed to place a brief satellite call to his parents—a moment that would be etched in their memory forever. “This is my last call from ISS… I’m coming back. I’ll see you all soon,” he said calmly.
That short call silenced the home in Lucknow. What followed were hours of anxiety, prayer, and mounting emotion. His mother wept silently. His father, Shambhu Dayal, a retired government officer, placed a hand on her shoulder and whispered a single sentence: “He will come back safe. Keep faith.”
A Night of Sleepless Vigil
The long night leading up to the return was anything but ordinary for the Shukla family. From the moment of undocking at 4.45 pm IST on Monday, the family remained glued to the live feed from space agencies and news outlets.
“We didn’t sleep at all. Not for a moment,” said Shambhu Dayal. “Every beep, every update, every pause on the screen felt like an eternity. The thought of him travelling back in a small capsule through Earth’s atmosphere… it made our hearts race.”
Throughout the night, the family home resonated with Sundarkand recitations, devotional songs, and whispered prayers. The father performed a Rudrabhishek Monday evening and resumed his Sundarkand path early Tuesday morning—the time coinciding with Shubhanshu’s descent through Earth’s upper atmosphere.
Sister’s Voice: ‘We Held the Sky Together’
His sister, Suchi Shukla, a tech professional, recalled the atmosphere at home—a curious mix of divine hope and emotional intensity. “We were constantly chanting, singing bhajans, lighting diyas… We created a kind of spiritual shield around him. We couldn’t be in that capsule with him, but we could hold the sky together in prayer,” she said.
She added that watching her brother complete this historic mission made her realise the emotional weight behind scientific progress. “It’s not just equations and rockets,” she said. “It’s also tears, mantras, sleepless nights, and the kind of love only families know.”
Historic Homecoming
Shubhanshu Shukla, a decorated officer of the Indian Air Force, became the first Indian to visit the International Space Station and only the second Indian to travel to space, following Rakesh Sharma’s 1984 voyage aboard a Soviet spacecraft. His journey was part of Axiom Mission 4, a private spaceflight collaboration involving NASA, SpaceX, ISRO, and Axiom Space.
Launched on June 25 aboard SpaceX’s Falcon-9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center, the Dragon capsule docked with the ISS on June 26. After a 20-day mission involving microgravity experiments and life science demonstrations, the four-member crew began their return journey on July 14 and splashed down at 3 PM IST on July 15.
India reportedly paid Rs 548 crore for Shubhanshu’s seat on the mission — a significant investment in preparation for the upcoming Gaganyaan mission in 2027, which will mark the country’s first indigenous crewed spaceflight.
Celebration at CMS: The School that Dreamed Big
At CMS, where Shubhanshu once studied, students, teachers, and alumni gathered to watch the landing live. The atmosphere, initially charged with nervous silence, gave way to applause, cheers, and tears when confirmation of the splashdown came.
“We’ve always said our students can go to the stars,” said the CMS principal. “Today, one of them came back from there—and brought the stars home.”
The school plans to host a grand felicitation event for Shubhanshu on his return to India. For now, his teachers and classmates are content with the knowledge that he is safe.
The Prayers That Touched the Sky
Back at home, once the capsule’s recovery was confirmed, the family embraced each other, the tension giving way to tears of joy. “It was a divine experience,” said Asha Shukla. “My son went farther than we could have imagined. But our prayers went even farther and brought him back.”
For the Shuklas, this was not just the return of a space traveller—it was the homecoming of a beloved son, a proud Indian, and the embodiment of faith, science, and courage.
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