How ISS-bound Shubhanshu Shukla once skipped sister’s vidai to give NDA exam

LUCKNOW: As Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla prepares to go the archetypal Indian to sojourn the International Space Station (ISS) connected Wednesday, a communicative from his younker successful Lucknow reveals the quiescent resoluteness that shaped India's abstraction icon.In the chilly wintertime of December 2001, during his elder sister Shuchi Shukla's wedding, teenage Shubhanshu vanished for hours, leaving his household anxious and his begetter Shambhu Dayal Shukla furious implicit his evident irresponsibility. Exhausted, the lad returned connected his bicycle, saying only, "Now, archer maine what to do." His secret? He had sneaked distant to instrumentality the National Defence Academy (NDA) exam, inspired by an Indian Air Force (IAF) airshow astatine Bakshi-ka-Talab.Shuchi, present a backstage schoolhouse teacher successful Lucknow, recalls the time vividly. "Gunjan—that's his favored name—was 14, erstwhile the Kargil War stirred him," she says."Two years later, helium borrowed an NDA signifier from a person and applied without telling us. It was lone aft clearing the exam that helium revealed wherefore helium disappeared during my vidai."Their father, a retired associated caput from the UP secretariat, scolded him past but present beams with pride.

"We're arrogant of Gunjan, not conscionable arsenic a household but arsenic Indians," says his dada from their Triveni Nagar home. "His posters are everywhere, and we commune for his mission's success."Commissioned into the IAF's combatant watercourse connected June 17, 2006, helium became a Fighter Combat Leader and Test Pilot with implicit 2,000 hours of flying acquisition connected craft similar Su-30 MKI, MiG-21, MiG-29, Jaguar, and Hawk.His ambition to go an astronaut, sparked by the IAF airshow, initially alarmed his parent Asha. "She told him to enactment connected Earth," Shuchi says. Yet, Shubhanshu softly enrolled for the Gaganyaan Mission, keeping it from family, conscionable arsenic helium did with the NDA exam.Now 39, Shubhanshu is the youngest of 3 siblings, with sisters Nidhi, an MBA graduate, and Shuchi. Married to Kamna, a dentist, he's a begetter to six-year-old lad Kiash, and the archetypal successful his household to articulation the defence forces.At home, he's reserved astir work. Shuchi recalls the Balakot airstrike successful 2019, erstwhile Shubhanshu was unreachable for days. "I asked if helium was involved, but helium conscionable said, ‘Let it be, Didi, speech astir thing else,'" she shares.Shuchi marvels astatine Shubhanshu's clarity of purpose. "From NDA to Gaganyaan, Gunjan ne'er wavered," she says. His dada adds, "He's acceptable for this mission. He ever performs perfectly."As Shubhanshu gears up for the Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) to the ISS, backed by ISRO's Rs 5 cardinal investment, his household successful Lucknow watches with pride."The lad who cycled backmost from the NDA entranceway exam, fuelled by an airshow's roar, present carries India's hopes to the stars," adds Shuchi.