Shubhanshu Shukla: From Lucknow’s Lanes to the Infinite Cosmos

 

 

Introduction

On the afternoon of June 25, 2025, as a plume of fire and smoke engulfed the Florida sky, India took another decisive step into the future. For the millions watching across the country, it was a moment of immense pride, nostalgia, and expectation. Inside the sleek, reusable SpaceX Dragon capsule—aptly christened Grace—sat a man whose journey had been shaped by equal parts discipline and dreams.

 

Wearing the crisp blue suit of the Indian Air Force and the mission patch of Axiom Mission 4, Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla looked calm, almost serene, as the countdown reached zero. In that instant, he became the second Indian ever to leave Earth’s atmosphere—and the first to enter the orbiting halls of the International Space Station.

 

Yet for those who know him, his ascent to the stars was never an accident of timing. It was the logical culmination of two decades spent at the confluence of courage and curiosity, sacrifice and science. This is the story of how a boy from the bylanes of Lucknow became the face of India’s next space chapter.