"Our astronauts lived up to flagship mantras which PM Modi has been constantly practicing...": Jitendra Singh

New Delhi [India], August 21 (ANI): Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology and MoS PMO Jitendra Singh, who also oversees the Space Department on Thursday said that Indian astronauts who took part in the Axiom-4 mission and are getting ready for the Gaganyaan mission have lived up to several flagship mantras which has been propagated and practised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Singh, while addressing a press conference alongside ISRO Chairman V Narayanan and astronauts, Group Captain Shubanshu Shukla and Group Captain Prasanth Nair said that Atmanirbharta has been at the centre stage of all processes and the experiments being undertaken in several test missions and otherwise.
"Our Astronauts have lived up to three or four flagship mantras, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been constantly practising, propagating over the last nearly 12 years ever since he's been at the helm. Indigenous, Atmanirbhar Bharat. The astronauts were Indians, and that too from the proud Indian Air Force. The technology which they got, the kits that they carried for the experiments, were developed by the Indian resources, none of them from outside, and of course, the same is going to happen with the #Gaganyaan as well. So that is living up to Atmanirbharta," the Union Minister said.
He further said that these kits were developed indigenously by different departments.
"First was the Department of Biotechnology, we have entered into a formal MoU with the Department of Biotechnology and the Department of Space. The idea behind it is that one day we might have a space physician...We have the contributions of the IITs, IISc Bengaluru, so the second mantra is 'whole of government, whole of nation approach'. Thirdly, experiments conducted in space, be it in life sciences, have been conducted by the Indian but the benefits will be given to all of mankind. Through this, we have set the example of Vishwa Bandhu Bharat," he said.
Jitendra Singh further said that the Indian space programme has adopted global benchmarks and its strategies are aligned with them.
"In the last few years, we have started following the strategies followed by the rest of the world. Our benchmarks, strategies and the parameters are global. This entire story began somewhere in 2018. Independence Day was going to be in a few weeks. All of us decided and promised each other to maintain silence so that we could have the announcement done by the Prime Minister from the Red Fort. You know what it means when the PM himself announces. That was the first momentous occasion when we heard the Prime Minister on the Independence Day of 2018, declaring to the nation that we are now ready to send an Indian into space," he said.
Shubanshu Shukla returned to Earth on July 15 after completing NASA's Axiom-4 (AX-4) space mission and landed in Delhi on August 17.
Shukla was part of NASA's Axiom-4 Space Mission, which took off from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, US, on June 25. He returned to Earth on July 15, splashing down off the coast of California. He became the first Indian in 41 years to travel to space.
India's first human Space mission, "Gaganyaan" programme, has entered its final phase, with the first human spaceflight now scheduled for the first quarter of 2027.
Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair and Group Captain Shubanshu Shukla will be a part of the crew for the Gaganyaan mission. (ANI)