Astronaut Shukla urges youths to own dreams for India’s space missions

Describing them as future makers of the nation, astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla urged youths to start owning dreams, whether in human spaceflight missions or other spheres, and work collectively towards realising them.

Mr. Shukla visited the National Cadet Corps’ (NCC) Republic Day Camp at Delhi Cantonment on Sunday (January 11, 2026) and interacted with the cadets. The astronaut urged them not to let a few failures define them and to keep working towards the goals they set in life.

Mr. Shukla, a group captain with the Indian Air Force (IAF), referred to a famous line from the Hollywood animation movie ‘Finding Nemo’, and told the gathering of uniformed youths to “keep swimming” in the ocean of life.

Mr. Shukla also asserted that if people of the nation can put their heart and soul together, and work collectively, “we can achieve the Viksit Bharat dream even before 2047”.

Mr. Shukla returned to Earth on July 15 last year following the successful completion of a historic 18-day mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Launched on June 25 last year, the project with Mr. Shukla as a mission pilot marked the first occasion when an Indian astronaut travelled to the ISS.

“The first Indian who went to space was Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma in 1984, and it took 41 years before another Indian travelled to space. But now, I think, the youths are very excited about space, and also show an inclination to do things to achieve any big goal,” he told reporters.

In his address and later in response to queries from reporters, Mr. Shukla urged the youths to start owning dreams for the nation and its aspirations. “So, if it is about the vision of sending the first Indian to the Moon by 2040, one will have to say, ‘it is my responsibility’ to ensure it happens, or for any other aspirations for that matter,” Mr. Shukla said.

India’s long-term ambitions in space include setting up the Bharatiya Antariksha Station by 2035 and sending the first Indian to the Moon by 2040. He also recalled that the capsule in which he was launched into space took off from the same complex that was used when Neil Armstrong embarked on the historic mission to the Moon in 1969.