Axiom Mission 4: How Sukhanshu Shukla secretly appeared in the NDA exam during his sister’s voice. Lucknow News

Lucknow: As the group captain Shubhinu Shukla prepare to become the first Indian to visit the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday, a story of his youth in Lucknow revealed the quiet resolution that shaped India’s space icon.Mirchi in December 2001, in winter, during the wedding of her elder sister Shuchi Shukla, Kishore Shubhanshu disappeared for hours, causing her family to worry and her father Shambu Dayal Shukla became furious at her clear irresponsibility. Tired, the boy returned to his bicycle, just saying, “Now, tell me what to do.” His secret? He had secretly attended the National Defense Academy (NDA) examination, inspired by an Indian Air Force (IAF) Aeries in Bakshi-Ka-Pore.Shuchi, who is now a private school teacher in Lucknow, remembers the day vivid. She says, “Gunjan- her pet name was 14, when the Kargil war rushed her,” she says.“Two years later, he borrowed an NDA form from a friend and applied without telling us. It was only after cleaning the exam as to why he revealed why he disappeared during my disgrace.”His father, a retired joint secretary of the UP Secretariat, rebuked him but now smiling proudly. “We are proud of Gunjan, not only as a family, but as Indians,” his father says from his Trivendi Nagar house. “His posters are everywhere, and we pray for the success of his mission.”On June 17, 2006, the fighter stream of IAF was commissioned, it became a fighter Combat Leader and Test Pilot with a flying experience of over 2,000 hours on aircraft like SU-30 MKI, MIG-21, MIG-29, Jaguar, and Hawk.His ambition to become an astronaut, instigated by IAF Aircraft, initially worried his mother Asha. “She asked her to live on earth,” says Shuchi. Nevertheless, Shubhmanshu quietly enrolled for the skys’ mission, keeping it from the family, as he had done with the NDA exam.Now 39, Shubhanshu is the youngest of three brothers, the sisters are Nidi, an MBA graduate and prevention. A dentist, married to Kamna, he is the father of a six -year -old son Kish, and was to join the defense forces for the first time in his family.At home, he is reserved about work. Shuchi recalls Balakot aerial attack in 2019, when Shubhanshu was unattainable for days. “I asked if he was involved, but she said, ‘Come on, doi, talk about something else,” she shares.Miracle in the clarity of the purpose of Shuchi. “From NDA to Gaganan, Gunjan never gave up,” she says. His father says, “He is ready for this mission. He always performs completely.”As Shubhanshu has gears for Axiom Mission 4 (AX-4) for ISS supported by ISRO’s 5 billion rupees investment, his family in Lucknow proudly looks at him.“The boy who rose a bicycle back from the NDA entrance exam, fuel from the roar of an aircraft, now hopes to the stars,” says Shuchi.