New Delhi: Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his Lok Kalyan Marg residence on Monday. Modi welcomed Shukla, the pilot of the Axiom-4 Space Mission to the International Space Station (ISS), with a warm hug and walked alongside with his arm on the astronaut’s shoulder, highlighting the significance of the moment.

During the meeting, Shukla presented the Axiom-4 mission patch to the Prime Minister and shared photographs of the Earth taken from the ISS. Shukla, who returned to India early Sunday, had received a rousing welcome at the Delhi airport. After the meeting, Modi took to X and posted, “Had a great interaction with Shubhanshu Shukla. We discussed a wide range of subjects including his experiences in space, progress in science & technology as well as India’s ambitious Gaganyaan mission. India is proud of his feat.”

Earlier in the day, Shukla was honoured in the Lok Sabha during a special discussion celebrating his milestone mission. Shukla completed an 18-day Axiom-4 mission on July 15, conducting over 60 experiments with three other crew members aboard the ISS—a key step towards India’s human spaceflight ambitions under the Gaganyaan programme.