Shubhanshu Shukla and his journey from ‘the quiet one’ to the stars

For the family of Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, things changed overnight when they received a phone call in 2024. The fighter pilot had been chosen as the pilot for the fourth-ever private manned mission to the International Space Station.

And today, June 25, 2025, he is aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft with three others on his way to the ISS.

Years from this day, a thoughtful, quiet boy left home only to come back completely different, yet somehow more himself than he had ever been.

 

“After seeing his transformation, I wished there was a law requiring every citizen to undergo the training,” recalled his sister, Nidhi. The fine young man had become a gentleman with discipline and steel.

So when the astronaut called his sister to tell her about the space mission, she paused for a bit, and then said: “This is magic. This has to be God’s special grace.”

And then came Shukla’s response: “I am not just going for myself. I am carrying everyone’s dreams up there with me.”

Read the story of how Group Captain Shubhanshu Shykla became the face of India’s second-ever manned space mission on THE WEEK.

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