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NEW PUBLICATION: Rebalancing Space Governance: a Global South perspective on outer space as a global commons (FRONTIERS IN SPACE TECHNOLOGIES JOURNAL)
The auditorium of the Indian Centre for Space Physics buzzed with anticipation on December 10, 2025, as approximately 200 students and individuals settled into their seats, their eyes fixed on a man who had achieved something only one other Indian had accomplished before him. Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, India's first astronaut to reach the International Space Station, had just arrived in Kolkata (as in Images 1 and 2), his first journey to Eastern India since his historic 18-day mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as a part of the Axiom-4 mission in June-July 2025. The moment he began his address in Bengali, "Ami ekhane asate khub khusi" (I am very happy to be here), the room erupted in cheers. For a space professional from a nation strengthening its place in human spaceflight after 41 years, visiting India's astronomy and space science hub in the east, i.e. Kolkata, held profound significance.
The event, thoughtfully curated by the Indian Centre for Space Physics under the distinguished directorship of Prof. Sandip K. Chakrabarti, unfolded as a journey through wonder and possibility. Dr. Chakrabarti opened the discussion, setting the intellectual tone before Shukla's presentation on "India in Orbit" commenced. What followed was a masterclass in translating cosmic experience into human understanding, a Panel Discussion titled "Why go to Space?" (as in Image 3) and an Audience Q&A (as in Image 4) that would linger long in the minds of those present, including myself. But it was Shukla's vivid descriptions of life in orbit and his experiments in microgravity during free fall beyond the Karman line (100 km above the sea level) that truly captivated the room. He spoke of what astronauts call the "Overview Effect", that profound shift in consciousness when you witness Earth from space, suspended against the cosmic void. "Oneness of our Planet, our Home," he emphasised, his words carrying the weight of personal revelation. He described how borders dissolve from orbit, how national divisions get diluted when you see the intricate web of life enveloping a single, beautiful sphere. It was a meditation on perspective, delivered by someone who had lived it.
Image 1: Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla in Kolkata.
Image 2: Astronaut Shukla being gifted a famous Sweet from Bengal, namely "Jolbhora", which means a syrup-filled sweet.
When Shukla discussed the Dragon capsule's journey back to Earth, he painted a picture of extreme conditions that few can comprehend. "It's almost 4000°F around the re-entry capsule," he told the audience. He then brought the immensity down to a relatable scale: "After coming back, you can feel the weight of your eyelids." The students laughed, but the lesson was profound. The human body, accustomed to weightlessness, rediscovers gravity with every movement. Then came the revelation about humanity's practical connections to space exploration. Shukla illuminated how space spinoffs like GPS, Velcro, duct tape, and battery-operated devices had quietly become woven into the fabric of our daily lives. What began as solutions to problems in orbit had become the technologies that ground-based humanity now took for granted. Space exploration, he was arguing, was not an abstract pursuit but intimately connected to societal progress on Earth.
The technical highlight came when Shukla showed a mesmerising video of sunrise as seen from orbit. "Look at the green glow," he instructed, pointing out the excited oxygen atoms illuminated by the sun. "Those flashes are thunderstorms," he added as lightning flickered across the planet's rim as the ISS flew over the Indian subcontinent, and one could spot the Indian cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Pune based on the glow of lights illuminating the cities in the evening. It was Earth photographed not by a remote satellite, but by human eyes pressed against the reinforced window of a spacecraft, experiencing what only around 634 people and a few more in human history had ever witnessed to date.
Image 3: A Panel Discussion on “Why go to Space?”
Perhaps the most touching moment came during the Audience Q&A. A little girl raised her hand and asked, "I want to go to space. But how do I convince my parents?" Shukla turned to her parents and posed a counter-question, "Why should she convince you?" When the child's mother expressed concern about the height and distance, Shukla responded with characteristic warmth and humour, "I will give my mom's number to your mom, then she will be more confident." The laughter that filled the room masked a deeper message that the pathway to space had become democratic, that it was no longer reserved for the privileged few. Yet, the question that had prompted Shukla's visit to Eastern India resonated throughout the day. Earlier, at one of the events across India, a student had asked, "How can someone from the North Eastern part of India become an astronaut?". For Shukla, returning to Kolkata, which he described on his arrival at the Airport as a “sweet place to be”, was more than a homecoming; it was a statement. "The sky was never the limit," he declared, his words echoing through the auditorium, "not for you, not for me, not for Bharat."
Image 4: Astronaut Shukla with Kids and students from Kolkata.
Before departing, Shukla took selfies and gave autographs to students and individuals. He also signed a postcard, a special commemorative issued by India Post in June 2025 to celebrate his historic ISS spaceflight. That postcard, now held by the LIFE-To & Beyond Foundation as part of their Rare Space Archives and Collections, represents far more than autographed memorabilia (as in Image 5). It symbolises India's arrival at a new frontier, a tangible artefact of the moment when the city of joy, Kolkata, witnessed one of its countrymen share the cosmos. [Contributed on 10.12.2025 by Sibsankar Palit, Founder and Executive Director of the LIFE-To & Beyond Foundation].
Image 5: Postcard autographed by Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla on the occasion of his 1st visit to Eastern India in Kolkata at ICSP after his return from the Axiom-4 space mission from the International Space Station, the 1st ever by an Indian citizen. [Now a part of Rare Space Archives and Collections of the LIFE-To & Beyond Foundation].
As students and individuals filed out of the auditorium on a December evening, they carried something invaluable: the knowledge that the path to the stars had been opened, and that they whether from the North, South, West, East or the North East, from the cities or villages of India, possessed the talent, the capability, and increasingly, the infrastructure to follow that will lead India to the stars.
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