Bengaluru: He was a kind of cadet that did not just learn to fly – he was in the sky. Before the first Indian to ride on the International Space Station (ISS), the captain of the group, Shubhhu Shukla, was already becoming prominent in the cockpit of a super Dimona aircraft at the National Defense Academy (NDA). Subsequently, he was just another cadet from Hunter Squadron – the call sign is not yet famous, dreams are still Earthbounds. But to see the instructor closely from the co-pilot seat, one thing was clear: the young man had wings.“He had a natural nature for the flight,” Group Captain (Rit) Anupam Banerjee recalled the first flying instructor at Shukla’s NDA. “Only in the first few trimming, we can tell. Some cadets struggle with a sense of control or spatial awareness. Not Shukla. He was confident, with intuitive – a very natural flight. ,It was 20 years ago. The aircraft was an Austrian-made HK-36TC Super Dimona, used for AB-INTIO Flying Exposure in NDA, before cadets proceeded for formal pilot training at the Air Force Academy. Shocks, as Banerjee recalled, completed the early flights-an early sign of the career that was lying forward: Jaguar, Test Pilot School, and finally, a ride for a lower orbit at AXIOM-4 (AX-4).But what exactly stood, Banerjee said, there was no skill. “He was honest, extremely hardworking, and it is a rare combination when it was combined with capacity. I told him that – if you maintain it then you will go away.”Years later, when Shukla was preparing for a spacefall, he sent a message to Banerjee. He did not forget the words. “He told me that he remembers what I said: It’s not enough to be a good flight or officer – you should be a good person. He stayed with him. And when he told me that, it meant a lot. ,Banerjee flew only seven or eight times with Shukla, but the connection ended. “He was always in touch. Do not do much.Before the launch, both had a last conversation. “I knew he was about to enter into quarantine, so I wished him luck. I told him that life had already prepared him. And that, a part of mine was going into space with him. ,Looking at Shukla Dock with ISS, Banerjee says that he felt something beyond proudly. “It’s still incredible for me – that someone who I trained, someone who had flew with me for the first time, is now in space. It’s not just about reaching the classroom. It is as a person. It is more important.”In a way, Shukla’s story is a flight path that is not only in the sky, but in the character. “When your students do well, you feel proud. But when they become a fine human being – it is more enjoyable.”So yes, the shock can now be the astronaut number 634. But before he floated loaded in a pressure module, he was already growing – like skills, honesty and quiet steel that cannot be taught.
