Man, I still can’t get over these photos. Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla is literally floating around the International Space Station right now, and the pictures the Indian government just released? They’re insane. Like, stop-scrolling-and-stare kind of insane.
This guy just became the first Indian to actually live on the ISS, and honestly, looking at these shots of him chilling in that massive windowed dome thing—the Cupola Module, they call it—I’m equal parts jealous and amazed. Seven windows. SEVEN. Can you imagine waking up to that view every morning?
The Journey Up There
So get this—Shukla and three other astronauts spent 28 hours basically doing donuts around Earth before they could dock with the ISS on June 26th. Twenty-eight hours! I get antsy on a 3-hour flight. These people are built differently.
He’s working with Peggy Whitson, who’s basically space royalty at this point. She’s been up there so many times, she probably has a frequent flyer card. But for Shukla? This is his first rodeo as mission pilot on what they’re calling Axiom-4. Two weeks of floating around doing science stuff. Not a bad way to spend your summer vacation.
Holy Moly, That View
The photos everyone’s losing their minds over show Shukla just… sitting there. At the edge of this dome, with Earth spread out behind him like some kind of cosmic painting. And I’m sitting here at my desk eating leftover pizza, so there’s that.
You know what gets me? The government’s caption was so simple: “Gazing Down From The Space!” Like, what else do you even say? Sometimes the simple stuff hits hardest.
Mind-Blowing Perspective Shift
Shukla talked to PM Modi this week, and he said something that honestly gave me chills. He was like, “When I saw India for the first time from space, it appeared much larger and grander than on the map. You can truly feel the sense of oneness; there are no borders, no lines.”
Dude. Think about that for a second. Up there, you can’t see the Kashmir conflict or the Pakistan border or any of the stuff that makes headlines. Just… India. Just Earth. Just home.
They call it the overview effect—this thing that happens when astronauts see Earth from space. Suddenly all our earthly drama seems pretty ridiculous when you’re looking at this tiny blue dot floating in absolute darkness.
Talking to Kids (And Probably Making Them Cry Happy Tears)
Here’s what I really love about this whole thing. Shukla isn’t just up there playing space tourist. He’s been doing these ham radio calls with school kids in Shillong and Bengaluru.
Picture being 12 years old and hearing this crackling voice from SPACE talking directly to you. Those kids are probably never going to forget that moment. Some of them are definitely going to become engineers or astronauts because of conversations like that. That’s the real magic right there.
Indian Food in Zero Gravity
This part cracked me up. Shukla’s been eating aam ras and gajar ka halwa up there. SPACE HALWA. I can barely make instant noodles properly, and this guy’s having traditional Indian sweets while orbiting Earth at 17,500 mph.
He mentioned sharing the food with his international crew, which is so perfectly Indian, isn’t it? “Here, try this; it’s from my mom’s recipe.” It doesn’t matter if you’re in Mumbai or the International Space Station—good food brings people together.
What This Actually Means
When PM Modi said Shukla was carrying the hopes of 1.4 billion Indians, he wasn’t being dramatic. This is huge. Like, really huge.
India’s only had one other person go to space before this, and that was way back when. Now we’ve got someone actually living on the ISS, doing real science, representing us up there. My nephew asked me the other day if Indians could be astronauts. Now I can show him these photos and say, “Kid, we’re already up there.”
Every time I look at these photos, I get this weird feeling. Like, there’s Shukla just hanging out 250 miles above us, probably looking down at my city right now as I’m typing this.
It’s wild to think about—while we’re all down here stuck in traffic or arguing about politics or whatever, he’s up there seeing the whole picture. No borders, no conflicts, no pollution visible from that high up. Just this beautiful, fragile planet that we all share.
Makes you wonder what we’d all be like if we could see Earth the way he’s seeing it right now. Maybe we’d be a little kinder to each other. Maybe we’d remember that we’re all just neighbors on this spinning rock in space.
These photos aren’t just cool space pictures. They’re a reminder that we’re capable of pretty incredible things when we put our minds to it. And honestly? That’s something we could all use a little more of these days.
