Overview
- The India International Science Festival opened in Panchkula, where Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla drew a large student audience during an interactive session.
- Shukla said his Axiom-4 mission on the International Space Station included experiments on India-centric food, medicines, and technologies to inform the Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme.
- He told attendees that a new selection framework is being developed to allow astronaut candidates from beyond the Air Force and other armed services.
- Shukla described returning microgravity research for analysis, including work with seeds to study changes across generations after exposure to space conditions.
- He urged students to pursue science toward the 2047 development vision and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi told him India should build a pool of 40–50 astronauts with a supporting human spaceflight ecosystem.