Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla declared that “India is here to stay in space,” as he shared his inspiring journey at India Today Conclave Mumbai 2025 on Thursday.
Recalling his historic mission aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft earlier this year, he described the emotional moment when he spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi from orbit with the Indian tricolor behind him.
“It was the first time the Indian flag reached the space station, and the first time someone spoke in Hindi from space. That memory will always stay with me. This time, we are here to stay,” Shukla told an applauding audience.
Gp Capt Shubhanshu Shukla recounted his extraordinary path, beginning as a young test pilot in the Indian Air Force flying MiG-21s, MiG-29s, Jaguars, and Su-30 fighters, before making history as one of India’s first astronaut-mission specialists. “When you are doing it, you don’t realize the scale of what you are achieving. In retrospect, it looks big, but I just feel blessed that I got the opportunity to join the IAF, fly so many incredible aircraft, and then take the Dragon spacecraft into space,” he said.
He credited his journey to a mindset of embracing challenges rather than hesitating over outcomes. “What drives me is the thought of what can I do the best today and keep doing it well. It’s not about overanalysing opportunities but about saying yes to them when they come. That ‘yes’ changes everything,” Shukla emphasised.
The astronaut also addressed the role of failure in shaping success. “One should not fear losing. I have suffered setbacks too, but failure is part of the journey. We should start celebrating defeat because when we do that, we send a powerful message to children—that failure is not the end but an option, a lesson, and an opportunity to move forward,” he said.
India’s astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla also revealed that work on the country’s first space station, the Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS), is already underway. “The Indian space station has already started taking shape. Conceptually, it will be similar to the International Space Station, functioning as an orbiting lab around Earth dedicated to microgravity research,” Shukla explained. He emphasised that the facility would not only advance India’s capabilities in human spaceflight but also serve as a testbed for future missions to the Moon and Mars.
With his words, Shukla underlined India’s growing stature in global space exploration and the determination of its astronauts to carry the nation forward among the stars.
The India Today Conclave is India’s first and only intelligence exchange that engages every stakeholder to build an agenda for positive change. It dissects every relevant fact, amplifies every sensible voice. It is a leadership conference where the sharpest global minds come together to analyse, debate, inspire, entertain and, of course, prescribe solutions. For over two decades, the India Today Conclave has been a global diagnostic, measuring the pulse of the world, making sense of random developments and predicting the next big thing.
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