Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla shares a stunning timelapse of Bharat from space, capturing thunderstorms, Himalayas, and sunrise from the ISS, while reflecting on his historic Axiom-4 mission and India’s future in space exploration.
Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, fresh from his historic journey to the International Space Station (ISS) on the Axiom-4 mission, has shared a breathtaking time-lapse of India from orbit, leaving viewers spellbound.
A Glimpse of Bharat from Orbit
Sharing the video on X, Shukla wrote, “While on orbit I tried to capture pictures and videos so that I can share this journey with you all. This is a Timelapse video of Bharat from space. The @iss is moving from south to north from the Indian Ocean. We are travelling along the east coast of India. The purple flashes you see is lightening happening in thunderstorms all over the country. Once the lights fade and a dark region appears- that’s Himalayas. As we cross over you see light starts to flood in because you are witnessing a sunrise in orbit. Also notice the stars in the background.”
He added that despite the monsoon cloud cover, he managed to capture rare frames of India.
“It truly is a mesmerising dance of natural elements turning it into one beautiful spectacle. Unfortunately I was up there during the monsoon season and it was mostly cloudy, yet I managed to steal a few shots of Bharat, one of which you are seeing. When you see this I want you to feel as if you are sitting in the cupola (window in ISS) and witnessing it yourself.”
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“India Looks Saare Jahaan Se Achcha Even Today”
At a press conference on Thursday, an elated Shukla reflected on his experience, saying he hoped that very soon Indians would fly to space “from our own capsule, from our rocket, from our soil.”
He recalled the words of Rakesh Sharma, India’s first astronaut, adding: “India looks saare jahaan se achcha (better than the entire world) even today.”
Lessons for Gaganyaan Mission
Shukla emphasised how valuable the ISS mission was for India’s upcoming human spaceflight programme: “On my Axiom-4 Mission, the experience from the ISS mission would be very useful for India’s own Gaganyaan mission, and I learnt a lot in the past year as part of my mission.”
He also described the emotions of liftoff vividly: “No matter how much training you have done, even after that, when you sit in the rocket and the engines ignite, when they catch fire, I think it is a very different feeling. I had not imagined how it would feel, and I was actually running behind the rocket for the first few seconds, and it took me some time to catch up to it. From that moment until the time we splashed down, the experience was unbelievable. It was so exciting and so amazing that I have really been struggling to find words to convey it to you, so that you can live that experience through my words.”
“Ram, Lakshman and the Vanar Sena”
Adding a lighter touch, Group Captain Prasanth B Nair, who is also part of India’s Gaganyaan crew, compared the astronauts’ journey to a scene from the Ramayana.
“A few months from now, we are going to have Diwali. That is the time when Ram ji entered Ayodhya. Over here right now, if I can call myself Lakshman… even though I am older than ‘Shuks’ (Shukla), I would love to be Lakshman to this Ram any day. But let’s remember Ram and Lakshman got a lot of help from the entire ‘vanar sena’, that is our fantastic ISRO team… otherwise it would not have been possible.”
Gratitude to ISRO and the Nation
Shukla thanked the government, ISRO, and ordinary citizens for making the mission a collective celebration.
“I would also like to thank everyone who helped bring this mission to the population of our country, making it accessible for everyone to view. In the end, I would like to thank each and every citizen of this country who behaved in a way that made it feel like they actually owned this mission. I truly felt that this was a mission for the entire nation.”
A Historic Flight
Detailing the journey, Shukla said: “We flew on top of the Falcon 9 vehicle in the Crew Dragon to the International Space Station for a period of two weeks and then returned. The launch was from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and recovery was off the coast of San Diego in the Pacific Ocean. Crew Dragon is one of the three vehicles that can currently take humans to space. We were also fortunate to have training on the Soyuz, which launches from Russia, as well as on Crew Dragon.”
Calling the ISS “a perfect example of international collaboration”, he noted its role in advancing cutting-edge science since the year 2000.
Shubhanshu Shukla has become the first Indian astronaut to travel to the ISS, etching his name into India’s growing space legacy — and his lens has gifted the nation a rare sight: Bharat, as seen from the heavens.