{"id":169847,"date":"2025-06-09T09:02:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T09:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/169847\/"},"modified":"2025-06-09T09:02:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T09:02:14","slug":"from-classroom-to-cosmos-shubhanshu-shuklas-wife-looks-back-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/169847\/","title":{"rendered":"From classroom to cosmos: Shubhanshu Shukla\u2019s wife looks back & ahead"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"From HARBOR ISLAND-MELBOURNE BEACH (FLORIDA): When Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla<\/a> lifts off to space aboard the Axiom-4 (Ax-4) mission on June 10 for a two-week stay on the ISS, it won\u2019t just mark a milestone for India. For his wife Kamna, it\u2019s another chapter in a life shaped quietly around duty, friendship, and long familiarity.Speaking exclusively to TOI just days ahead of the launch from Nasa\u2019s Kennedy Space Centre here, Kamna shared what this journey has meant to her\u2014as a partner, as a parent, and as someone who\u2019s known \u201cShux\u201d since childhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you go on this incredible journey, I am extremely proud of you. You\u2019re not just reaching for the stars, you are inspiring so many of us back home. Just shine bright and do your duty to your best, as you always do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kamna\u2019s Message To Shux<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was in the beginning of 2020,\u201d she recalled, when it first felt real that Shukla might actually go to space. \u201cOne of the criteria for Gaganyaan aspirants was that they had to be test pilots. It\u2019s such a small community that we were elated, because whoever it may be, he would be known to us. That small idea has become an incredible reality now.\u201dAt home, Shux is a man of routine and quiet resolve. \u201cHe loves his workouts, non-fiction books, to goof around with his six-year-old son. But when you talk about his fearlessness, he\u2019s taken immense risks. He left his life as a fighter pilot and stepped into the uncharted world of spaceflight. From making decisions in microseconds to doing delicate experiments in micrograms\u2014it’s a complete shift,\u201d she said.Her favourite image of him, though, is less about space and more about spirit. \u201cThere\u2019s a never-say-never attitude in him that\u2019s very special. You\u2019ll often find him quoting Dory from Finding Nemo\u2014just keep swimming. There may be a fire anywhere, but he focuses on solutions. That\u2019s his forte.\u201d\"(TNNOf the rest of the Ax-4 crew, Kamna said they are now more than colleagues. \u201cThey call themselves friends for life. Their experience in microgravity will bind them forever. I\u2019m so glad Shux found these friends\u2014and all of them adore our son Sid.\u201dKamna and Shukla first met in primary school. \u201cWe\u2019ve studied together since Class 3. We\u2019ve been best friends. I\u2019ve known him as Gunjan, as Shubhanshu\u2014the shy guy in our classroom\u2014who\u2019s now inspiring so many people.\u201dBut being married to someone on this path means living with distance and missed milestones. \u201cThese things do get overwhelming, especially Shux missing Sid\u2019s early childhood. He finds that deeply painful,\u201d she admitted. \u201cBut he\u2019s incredibly focused, like Arjuna [from Mahabharat]\u2014he only sees the target.\u201dHer way of coping has been to embrace anticipation over anxiety: \u201cYou can either be overwhelmed or be excited. We chose excitement. Nothing worthwhile comes without risk. With challenge comes glory\u2014that\u2019s the mindset.\u201d\".\"Sid is still too young to fully grasp what\u2019s unfolding. \u201cIt\u2019s all just exciting for him. He thinks everyone\u2019s father is an astronaut. When we visited Nasa, he was thrilled to see rockets and suits. But when asked what he liked most, he said, \u2018deers in Nasa\u2019s park are very nice\u2019. That\u2019s his comprehension for now. I\u2019m sure when he grows up, he\u2019ll be super proud.\u201dAsked how she\u2019d want Sid to remember this time, Kamna said: \u201cI\u2019d tell him his father was the chosen one. Lucky to represent his beautiful country and its 1.4 billion people. Fortune favours the brave, and Shux is the bravest person I know. He left his love for flying to enter an unknown territory. He reaches for the stars\u2014and yet, he remains grounded.\u201dBack home, they know this is only the beginning. \u201cHe has immense responsibility. The Axiom mission is a stepping stone for India\u2019s Gaganyaan programme<\/a>. Whatever he learns will help the country. He\u2019ll be quite busy once he returns.\u201dBut first, the launch. And for Kamna, it\u2019s like every other take-off in a fighter pilot\u2019s life. \u201cI never attended his take-offs. Out of sight, out of mind\u2014that\u2019s how I cope. I haven\u2019t thought about the launch day. We go with the flow. We\u2019re filled with gratitude. We\u2019ll take it as it comes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HARBOR ISLAND-MELBOURNE BEACH (FLORIDA): When Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla lifts off to space aboard the Axiom-4 (Ax-4) mission…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3844],"tags":[40117,70830,70829,70828,70,19065,413,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-169847","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-axiom-4-mission","9":"tag-gaganyaan-programme","10":"tag-kamna-shukla","11":"tag-nasa-kennedy-space-centre","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-shubhanshu-shukla","14":"tag-space","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114652600372509739","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}