Survival exams, images classes, kayaking: Shux shares Axiom-4 mission preparation particulars

New Delhi: Undergoing survival exams in simulated atmosphere, studying images to doc area expertise and a staff kayaking off the Mexican coast to foster camaraderie — these had been among the actions that the crew of Axiom-4 had engaged in earlier than setting off on the mission, astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla mentioned.

On Sunday, Group Captain Shukla, who goes by the callsign ‘Shux’, shared his experiences and challenges he confronted whereas being a part of the Axiom-4 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) and the coaching he underwent previous to it.

After a number of postponements, the Dragon spacecraft carrying him and different three astronauts was launched from the Kennedy Space Center within the US on June 25.

“It was so powerful, it literally shakes every bone in your body. You are going from 0 km/hr to 28,500 km/hr in 8.5 minutes, and that speaks about the magnitude of it,” Shukla recalled the depth of the lift-off expertise.

As the spacecraft was launched, individuals in India and around the globe cheered for the mission, and prolonged the identical gesture when the splashdown occurred on their return to Earth on July 15.

Lucknow-born Shukla grew to become the primary Indian astronaut to journey to the ISS and described the expertise of the mission, “very exhilarating”.During the occasion hosted by the Indian Air Force on the Subroto Park right here, he additionally shared some anecdotes from his 20-day area sojourn as a part of the mission that was preceded by a number of months of onerous coaching.”When you go to an ISS, you are essentially living in a new house. And, it has its own rules, its own set of terms and conditions, like how you would eat, how you would sleep. How would you go to a bathroom, actually that is the most challenging task, to go to a washroom in space,” Shukla mentioned, drawing mirth from the viewers.The astronaut, who will flip 40 this October 10, was commissioned into the IAF in 2006 and went on to develop into a adorned take a look at pilot with over 2,000 hours of flying time on superior fighter plane such because the Su-30 MKI, MiG-29, Jaguar, and Dornier-228.

Shukla grew up as a “shy and reserved” particular person, listening to tales of the 1984 spaceflight of Rakesh Sharma in his childhood days. And, life, like his current area sojourn in a spacecraft orbit, has certainly come full circle for him, as he signed autographs for varsity college students and obliged the man air warriors queuing as much as get clicked with him on the occasion.

Asked how this transformation feels, he instructed PTI, “Oh, it feels wonderful to see the excitement among students for space and India’s space programme.”

His profile within the Axiom-4 mission was that of a mission pilot, alongside commander Peggy Whitson of the US and mission specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.

“As a mission pilot you are supposed to interact with the displays, with the capsule itself. So, your training is slightly difficult as compared to the mission specialist,” he mentioned.

Recalling the coaching expertise, together with at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Shukla mentioned the problem in area is that assist is just not available, so one has to be taught every and the whole lot on floor.

And, for the previous one yr, this expertise has been “nothing short of wonderful”, he mentioned.

“You have to be trained as a medical professional for (administering) first aid, you have to be trained as an engineer for maintenance, as a scientist for performing experiments, and at the same time you have to learn photography and videography, and also how to speak on camera, because everything you do, has to be done by you. There is nobody there who is going to come and assist you,” the Indian astronaut mentioned.

Shukla performed seven India-led microgravity experiments throughout numerous domains of life sciences, agriculture, area biotechnology, and cognitive analysis.

“I think we had some 20-odd classes about photography and videography, because, when you go up there you would like to bring back memories and snapshots to be shared with people later. Hopefully, I have done a good job,” he mentioned.

During his tackle, Shukla additionally shared just a few movies of his coaching routine, and a small clip of the visuals of India as seen from area that he tried to seize on digicam.

“And, India does look really beautiful. I’m not just saying it because all of us are Indians and we are sitting here, but I think that if you speak to any astronaut who is there on the station… The unique positioning and the shape, especially during night, if you pass over India, from the Indian Ocean, south to north, I think it is probably one of the most beautiful sights that you can ever see in your life,” he mentioned.

Shukla recalling the celestial expertise mentioned, from the orbit, the crew noticed dawn and sundown, 16 instances a day, and “you never get bored of it”.

Emphasising the range of the staff, with every belonging to a unique nation and tradition, he mentioned, apart from survival exams in a simulated atmosphere for crew members, an train was additionally undertaken to foster camaraderie and staff spirit amongst them.

So, a staff kayaking was executed off a fantastic coast in Mexico, and “I really enjoyed it,” he mentioned.

“You have to be a team player. If you are not a team player, you are not fit for spaceflight. Because, it doesn’t work,” Shukla underlined.

He emphasised that as in an IAF coaching, the vast majority of time in area coaching is what “would you do if something goes wrong”.