Growing up in the early 2000s, the stories of astronauts Rakesh Sharma, Kalpana Chawla, and Sunita Williams (an American astronaut of Indian origin) were woven into my childhood textbooks. Later, as a teenager, I discovered Ravish Malhotra, another pioneer whose name deserved wider recognition but never received it. After these icons, there has been a long gap. An entire generation of children grew up without any Indian launching into space. The sense of scientific pride associated with human spaceflight faded over the years, even as the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) achieved remarkable success in uncrewed missions, placing satellites and equipment into orbit.
Now, that narrative is changing with ISRO’s Indian Human Spaceflight Programme. Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla has become the first of four astronauts to inspire a new generation of aspiring young minds. This week, he returned to the country after visiting the International Space Station on the Axiom-4 mission. Soon, in 2027, he will be joined by one of three fellow astronauts—Group Captain Prasanth Nair, Group Captain Ajit Krishnan, or Group Captain Angad Pratap—on India’s first crewed flight to space. They will be flying aboard ISRO’s own spacecraft from Indian soil in Sriharikota.
For children today, role models like Shubhanshu Shukla offer living proof that big dreams are achievable in a field largely unexplored by young Indians. I hope these missions spark curiosity in today’s children the way earlier astronauts did for me when I was five. I didn’t pursue that path, but it taught me far more about space than school ever could have. I hope the media gives these astronauts the visibility they deserve.
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