Houston [US], July 13 (ANI): Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla delivered a stirring farewell speech from the International Space Station (ISS) as the Axiom-4 crew prepares for its journey back to Earth.

With a modern twist, he quoted the iconic words of Cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma: 'Aaj ka Bharat abhi bhi saare jahaan se acha dikhta hai' (Today's India is still more splendid than the entire world).

He made the remarks as the crew members delivered their farewell speeches in both English and their native languages.

Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla said, 'Aaj ka bharat space se mahatvakaanshi dikhta hai, aaj ka bharat space se nidar dikhta hai, aaj ka Bharat confident dikhta hai, aaj ka Bharat garv se poorn dikhta hai aur inhi sab kaarano ki vajah se aaj mai fir se keh sakta hoon ki aaj ka bharat abhi bhi saare jahaan se acha dikhta hai' (Today's India looks ambitious from space. Today's India looks fearless, confident, and full of pride).

Group Captain Shubhanshu expressed his gratitude to the people, ISRO, NASA, international partners, Axiom Space, and SpaceX for making this journey possible. He highlighted the incredible experience of working with professionals from around the world and the mission's far-reaching impact.

'It was an incredible joy to be here and working alongside a bunch of professionals like you. For the past two and a half weeks and so, we have done a lot of science on the station, we have done outreach activities '

In a light-hearted moment, he added, '(We) also looked back at the earth in whatever time we found. We were always looking out of the window'.

'It almost seems magical to me and I would like to take this opportunity to thank my country and all its citizens for supporting this mission and me with all of their hearts. I would like to thank ISRO for making this happen, all the colleagues at ISRO who have worked tirelessly in developing all of the protocols, science and the outreach activities... the researchers back in India, the students who developed the outreach items that I carried', he said.

Group Captain Shukla also extended thanks to NASA, international partners, Axiom Space, SpaceX, 'for ensuring that we (astronauts) were trained very well and providing all the support round the clock-- people who were on ground, supporting this mission, making it extremely successful'.

He agreed with his Hungarian colleague Tibor Kapu and underscored that the mission had far and wide-ranging impacts as apart from science.

'Going back from here I carry a lot of memories, and the learnings out of this mission that I would spread back, But the one thing that really sticks to me is what humanity is capable of when all of us come together from different parts of the world and work for a common goal. It is truly incredible'.

Ending his optimistic and stirring speech, Group Captain Shukla said, 'We will meet soon on earth'.

Towards the end of the speeches, the crew members shared an emotional moment where they hugged each other.

The farwell ceremony was also shared on the official X handle of Axiom Space.

https://x.com/Axiom_Space/status/1944395523122921785

IAF Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian astronaut to visit the International Space Station (ISS), is set to return to Earth tomorrow, July 15, along with his crew from Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4).The crew is scheduled to undock from the ISS on July 14 at around 4:35 PM IST, with splashdown expected in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California at approximately 3 PM IST on Tuesday, July 15.The return journey aboard the Dragon spacecraft will take around 22 hours, concluding their nearly 18-day mission aboard the ISS.

The Ax-4 crew includes Commander Peggy Whitson, Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), European Space Agency (ESA) project astronaut Slawosz 'Suave' Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland, and HUNOR (Hungarian to Orbit) astronaut Tibor Kapu.

During their stay, the team conducted multiple scientific experiments and outreach activities aboard the orbiting laboratory.

The Dragon spacecraft will return with more than 580 pounds of cargo, including NASA hardware and data from over 60 experiments conducted during the mission.

Axiom Mission 4 was launched on June 25 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. The Dragon spacecraft successfully docked with the ISS on June 26 at 4:05 pm IST, ahead of schedule, connecting to the space-facing port of the station's Harmony module. (ANI)