Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, who is all set to travel to the International Space Station (ISS) in a few months, will be carrying some items representing different regions of India, and a special gift in honour of Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian to travel to space more than 40 years ago. “I would like to keep that a secret because I intend to keep it as a surprise for him, but yes, there is something that I am carrying for him, and it would be known once the mission ends,” Shukla, one of the four astronauts on the Axiom 4 mission, said at an online press conference from the United States on Thursday night. Shukla, who along with three fellow Indian Air Force (IAF) officers had been selected for India’s Gaganyaan programme, said he was in constant touch with Sharma, and seeking his guidance. “Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma has been actively involved in the (Gaganyaan) process, from selection of the astronauts to the kind of training we are undergoing. He is really involved with the human space mission that we (Indian Space Research Organisation) are already executing. We regularly keep in touch. He is a kind of mentor for me and advises me on a lot of things of what to expect and how to prepare for this mission,” he said. Sharma, then a Squadron Leader in the IAF, had travelled on a Soyuz spacecraft of the Soviet Union and spent about eight days on the Salyut 7 space station which has since been decommissioned. In a video conversation with then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from the space station, when asked how India looked from space, Sharma had famously replied: “Saare jahan se achcha”. Shukla said he would be carrying small tokens from all over the country on his journey to the International Space Station. He said ISRO had reached out to universities and sought ideas from the students for some representative items from their region that could be taken to space. “We do have some allowance for certain things that we can carry to the ISS, and we can decide on some personal items and some items that we can take for the country. I am not at liberty to give out all information at this stage, but there will be lots of stuff representing regions in particular and India in general that I will be taking up to the station,” Shukla said. The Axiom 4 mission is being operated by private US space company Axiom Space, in partnership with NASA and SpaceX. Three other astronauts, one each from the United States, Poland and Hungary, would be travelling to the International Space Station with Shukla who will be piloting the Crew Dragon spacecraft of SpaceX. The Indian participation in this mission is a result of an agreement between ISRO and NASA. The launch date of the mission has not been disclosed yet but it is scheduled to happen sometime between March and June this year.
