Astronaut Reveals: My heart Shrinks & More Shocking Challenges | Shubhanshu Shukla | FO536 Raj Shamani

0:00How does it feel that you are standing on the ground? And within few minutes, victims are zero gravity. We also went from 0 km per hour to 28 ,500 km per hour. So in 8.5 minutes, maybe we were in orbit. That is the kind of speed that you navigate in the capsule. Your chest is compressed, your lungs are compressed. So you cannot actively breathe through your lungs. You have to breathe through your stomach. Your head gets pushed back. Your eyes feel as if they are going inside. These are all the forces that you feel. Space sickness is not happening.

0:56In this episode, he breaks down rocket science like you've never heard it before. Another thing when you're up there, the technology is insane that everything is recycled. Your urine also recycles? Yeah, 98 % of the water is recycled on the station. How do you feel about the face? It definitely looks beautiful. It stands out. You see the tip of the country, fully bright, lighted up. Identify Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Delhi. All these cities you can make out. You can make out India-Bangladesh border. This was something extremely emotional. Tears had come. And so I started doing this, you know, wiping.

1:32All dry, nothing. Because tears don't fall in space, you know. So when you cry, they just accumulate in your eyes. When you go to the space suit, what do you do in your suit? We go to the suit, that is known as the IVA suit. The IVA suit is under 16-16 kg, which we wear inside. The EVA suit, when you get out of the station, there is no protective shell around you. That EVA suit is your spaceship. So the EVA suit has to have all the systems for you to sustain life. So the EVA suit is around 120 to 140 grams. Mentally, how do you prepare yourself for this whole thing? Anything can happen. One little thing and I'm gone.

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3:34Explain me like I'm a kid and I didn't tell anything about rocket science. Tell me about the basic level of how it is, why it is rocket science,

3:55So, what is this? So, space to reach the space, basically you need rocket because you need to go up, to go up outside the atmosphere of the earth let's say we are coming from 400 km so you have to reach there and also you need speed very much why the speed I need to explain a little bit that gravity as a force everywhere is in the universe the closer you are to a mass center of mass the gravity is less far away so it is not that gravity is not in the height of 400 km gravity is still there you just don't experience it because you are falling around the earth now to be in space why do you need speed I will explain and I will explain So this is a very good experiment Newton's thought experiment when he came up with this concept.

4:50If you are standing on north pole of earth, you are standing up and you throw a ball so when you throw a ball, it will fall down a little further, right? If you throw it with faster speed it will go slightly farther and then fall down and hit the earth. If you throw it with even faster speed, it will go a little more horizontally and then it will fall down on the ground. If you can throw it, you know, with very high speed so that, you know, the rate at which it is traveling forward and the rate at which it is falling, if it matches the curvature of the earth, it will keep falling but it will never touch the surface of the earth.

5:33I mean, it goes up and it goes down. It goes down, but it matches the curvature. So, it goes down. and it is falling down kind of because it is always falling and it has attained that speed that is what a satellite is that is what a space object is so you don't go up you have to go as fast as well so that when you reach there you are able to match this and you continuously you are in a free fall so that is why it is said that whatever objects are they are always in a free fall around the earth so this is the orbit this is what is orbit so this is to attain so you have to go up and you have to attain so you need energy energy is given through a rocket so rocket takes massive amount of fuel and it ignites and generates it and you accelerate it and once you attain that speed when you reach that object so that stage shuts off the engine cuts off and it becomes separate because now it is only added mass now it is not doing anything so now the object which you have the spacecraft or the capsule it has attained that velocity and altitude it will continue to move around.

6:45This also has a small propulsion system inside for maneuvering in space which doesn't have a lot of fuel so for that it's a small propulsion system also. So now it is able to sustain itself when it is there because it's getting down permanently it will always keep falling. But then how do you reach the space station? So that is the next step So once you have attained this orbit, you are in orbit. Now, whatever you have maneuvering, that is the orbital maneuvering class. Manoeuvring means driving. Manoeuvring means driving. That it is to show direction. Yes. Now, it is very different from what we have learned.

7:23So driving on the road, flying also in air is very different. And this maneuvering is very different. This is very different. So the closer you are to Earth, the closer you are in the past, the faster you are in the past. fast your speed. The further you go the slower you will move. You will move in the direction of the direction. And there are different points in the orbit when you activate your propulsion system. So you will get a thrust and because of that thrust let's say you are going around this and at this point you decide to burn. So your orbit size will increase. Your altitude will increase.

7:59So you will go higher. So this is what is done when you are going to let's say ISS is at 424 or you have injection 200 kilometers so you will figure out what is the best time and then you will burn and gradually increase your altitude closer to the ISS and then from there it is active control you know that you are constantly firing thrusters aligning and then going and slightly going and talking to the ISS so it is complex the orbitally maneuvering but But these steps And then how does it dock? Is it automatic that you have to manual something to actually dock yourself there or is it some kind of magnet that when it goes in the past it will attract like what is it?

8:44It's not a magnet so if you explain docking then if you are far but not exactly parking because you slow down when you come if you are driving on a road let's say you are driving on a 10 lane highway you know when you are you can go from ISIS you can go from a lot of freedom speed can vary not a problem but then as you come closer to ISIS it becomes a 6 lane highway then after that you when you align it with the docking boat it becomes a 2 lane highway then as you reach let's say about 20 meters it becomes a single lane highway your margins keep getting tightened it gets lower and the final stages the margin is in centimeters per second not even meters per second that is how slowly you move closer to the ISS and with this motion it is a very sophisticated system docking, soft capture, hard capture but it is a probe it goes and attaches to the accepting mechanism once it gets locked this soft docking once this gets locked it is a little flexible and now this system itself it is not a magnet but it is a motor which pulls them together so you are not actively using thrusters but the motor is pulling them and then it brings them together so that is how it happens because imagine both of them are moving at around 7.6 km per second at that speed you are going and you have to come and align with that centimeters precision together and then once you lock like precessions when it's in contact so the mechanism now pulls it together obviously station is much heavy so it doesn't come it pulls the capsule closer and when it's locked then there are bolts all around which go out readily and keeps the capsule in place and that control is in your hand no the backup is always in our hand the entire process is automated but for every step everywhere there is a possibility of the pilot or the commander stopping it moving back taking over control and if something is not happening as what it is supposed to be.

11:04Okay so from Zameen to launch it all is automatic until docking. Everything is automatic. If something is wrong then you can just manually tweak it so that now it's going to be according to your plan. There may be a tweak required there may be a takeover required there may be you know something completely different required it is not known so that is why the majority of the training is for these scenarios it is not nominally if everything is running automatically you will reach there but the training happens for this you know that what will you do when something goes wrong yes so now tweaking it and you have reached automatically it automatically then boulders and strong and connect it like some forces through it will closely come through it it starts winding so it brings them closer now the surfaces are in contact they are touching each other and once that happens so outwards there are bolts so they will go out and they will lock if all 12 of them lock it's successful if they don't lock then you know your manual intervention comes in now what to do now whether we go out go back we try once again or we you know do something else to make it happen that is what is required wow how does it feel that you you are like this you know you are standing on Zameen and within few minutes you stand up and you are in zero gravity your body doesn't change does it feel different oh yes it feels a lot different and even the transit that is also very amazing because you know the force that you experience the sheer energy that is required to take you so eight and a half minutes maybe we were in orbit you know from the time of launch and so in eight and a half minutes it is you know when i say we are in orbit it's just a statement but when i tell you that in eight and a half minutes we went from zero kilometers of altitude to 200 kilometers we also went from zero kilometers per hour to 28 500 kilometers per hour that is the kind of speed that you navigate right it is a lot oh bar say when i've also seen rocket It doesn't look like it is fast, but it is, it is phenomenally fast.

13:21So what happens is acceleration 28 ,000 km per hour is like, maybe 20 times Bombay Delhi or maybe more. 8 minutes you have done Bombay Delhi 20 times, like something like that. Yeah, yeah, if you give an analogy. It's that intense. Yes, it is. 28 ,500 km per hour. If your body is going to speed, what happens? brain you can see like is your eyes so like are your eyes open does your brain lack what happens so acceleration is where the force is felt where your body feels that force so you start building up 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G and you go up to 5G maximum figure is what you are supposed to experience but 5G means that you are lying on your back in the capsule so it is being felt on your chest so it is as if somebody is pushing you back in your seat your chest is compressed, your lungs are compressed so you cannot actively breathe through your lungs, you have to breathe through your stomach which is training which we practice on ground your head gets pushed back your eyes feel as if they are going inside these forces are the positive acceleration you feel at that time if you have to press a button you have to raise your hand against the G so your hand which normally you can raise conveniently but under 5G it becomes five times heavier so it takes that much of effort to just you know raise your hand and take it to a particular button and operate it so all these are things that are you know practice that are trained you you are taught but you live through that and then you eventually you know land up in space and also it is this is not the worst possible case the worst possible case would be if something goes wrong during launch and you have to abort and during abort in the worst case scenario I'm talking about 5G your body may be experienced to 18Gs so that is what is going to be something significant if I may give an analogy which I've tried to put in the book as well that it feels like it would be akin to a baby elephant sitting on your chest that's the kind of force you would feel so it is not for a long time it is for a short duration only but you will be exposed to that and you have to operate in that force you have to keep mind clear and operate you should be ideally that is how your condition should be if that happens but since it is for a very short duration even if it passes then you come back and then you do things but yes your ability to function under such conditions should be retained that is what the aim is of the training aspect and something happens to you we have a fluid and orientation in the inner ear there is a fluid that governs our sense of balance and orientation and everything and it is susceptible to these inertia momentum which is also the beginning of the launch time because there are two stages which is the first stage cut off so for a brief period if you are at 2.5 g and suddenly that cut off happens so you come back from 2.5 g to just 1 g or maybe you know the minimal g that you are experiencing lesser than 1 g also because you are kind of falling in that there is no force on you so the fluid it goes sloshing in your ear so the feeling that I remember I got when this happened was that as if I am tumbling I am somersaulting and I am going forward I am strapped in my seat I am sitting there but this is a very strong feeling that you get that you are kind of tumbling forward and going same thing happens when you reach space because after reaching there it's a different slightly different mechanism that happens but you know I can if I may put it there are hair like follicles in a otolith organ in this tride which are vertical because of gravity now because gravity is not experienced they become horizontal so your datum changes so you feel you know the conflict of orientation you always feel that and because of that conflict there are symptoms like nausea, headache all of that is experienced when you arrive in space so you get disoriented you get disoriented there is no sense of direction in space per se you know there is no up or down there is no left right you cannot unless and until there is some visual cue you if I you know if everything is same all around you and I tell you to close your eyes and rotate you and you open your eyes there is no way you know you can tell that what is up what is down there is no possible way to tell it it's just not when all of this happens there is no way no direction understanding then there is no space sickness this is what happens in the initial few days there is a lot of space sickness everybody gets it to what degree it may be different from body to body the first thing our bodies we have always evolved in this environment of gravity, we have never seen this without gravity anything, so first few things that happen to you is I have talked about the orientation, the fluid in the ear, but the blood from your legs, it goes up to your head your head actually swells up it becomes bigger like physically you can see if you look at my images when I was speaking to the Honorable Prime Minister from space that was I think second or third day you would see my face is actually swollen you know a puffy it feels so the face feels like because full blood is here yes the fluid shift happens and your heart doesn't have to pump blood against gravity to your head it is working against gravity to send blood to your head it doesn't have to so it actually shrinks it reduces in size by 10 to 15 % depending on how long you have been there but it reduces in size when you are in space so the head is big and the heart is big it's the worst possible combination that you can think of but this is what happens physiologically when you arrive in space and then do you feel vomiting yes so again because of the sensory conflict your eyes are seeing something your ears are feeling something your proprioceptors are feeling something else there is a sensory conflict so you have headache you have a kind of nausea degree may be different you know every body is different so how much you feel it may be different but there is a sense you become slow there is a sense of confusion which is always there in the initial few days that you become slow at things at least that is what my personal experience was that you became slow i became slow even the things that i knew how to do I was deliberately you know taking my time to do those things in the first few days and as Simpera let's say just picking up a cup yeah yeah yeah everything everything so you know if I'm realizing it consciously that means that I'm you know not obviously so that is what my experience was did you puke?

20:17no I didn't I didn't puke didn't reach that stage but there was full time there was a sensation not so going up for me was slightly more as opposed to coming down both ways it happens when you come back on earth also the same thing happens but going up was slightly probably a bit more but not a lot you know one thing I do remember there was an urge for me to puke but what happens here on earth that you know it builds up gradually that urge to puke let's say you are getting motion sick or for some reason so you will feel something you know and then headache then nausea gradually it will build up place then then you will feel that you want to puke i do remember it was sudden and all of a sudden i felt like puking i took out my puke bag but then that urge just went you know immediately it went so this was the difference that i felt from earth that it is not a gradual build-up it happened suddenly you know quickly but i didn't end up puking see another thing when you're up there right there the technology is insane that everything is recycled yes so that moisture is sweat, blood like any little thing which is out there it gets recycled so your urine also recycles yeah, when you know all the systems are working on station, 98 % of the water is recycled on station that is what the figure is so there's a very humorous saying also at station yesterday's coffee is tomorrow's coffee so I can't find some way back to your cup or maybe yesterday's urine is tomorrow's coffee it is implied literally this becomes true it becomes true because it is being reclaimed but obviously it is safe enough to drink that is why it is happening but it is shown to be proven it can be done so that happened and what is this filtration process?

22:16it is very involved the biggest challenge I think is to collection of moisture from the various places on the station but I will tell you something interesting you know and that is the sweat and tears so tears thing happened to me the first time the schedule is also very easy on station and I had not had a chance to look at India from space I had looked at earth obviously but it will be a specific pass a specific time when you will fly over India and I was busy doing experiments because it was it was very very involved the first few days and you are also not feeling very good you know so you are slow as I told you you take time to do things it was third or fourth day I think you know I was doing some experiment and one of the long duration crew NASA astronaut she came up to me and she said Gishuk we are going to pass over India would you like to see I said of course I would like to see you know and I called the ground controller I said yeah I'll take some time and I'll come back 10-15 minutes I needed and I went and there was a window you know covered I went head down and looking directly at the earth and that was the time we were passing over our country India and this was a pass from south to north coming from Indian ocean side and it was a night pass so completely dark on ocean not much light very very you know it's just black and then coming what also happens because it's completely black if there is a thunderstorm or lightning happening it's suddenly you know that you see the purple flash that kind of firework you know that happens so that was the ocean and then you know i'm looking and suddenly you see the tip of the country you know the peninsular region fully bright lighted up you know it's beautiful and i look at that and you are flying over it and you know identify by Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Delhi, Lucknow, Kanpur, all these cities you can make out, you can make out India-Bangladesh border.

24:25Probably under a minute, you pass over the country and you are over the Himalayas, which is completely dark. And, you know, I'm not, even when I'm telling you right now, I get goosebumps because of the feeling that I got when I was actually witnessing this and passing away. It is somehow very emotional because so much had happened in the preceding few days, right? The launch going up and there's so much of excitement, but you never get time to think about any of it. This was something extremely emotional. And so I was kind of anticipating it, you know, and I felt something like the waters in my eyes and, you know, probably tears had come.

25:04And so I started doing this, you know, I've been all dry, nothing, because tears don't fall in space, you know. So when you cry, they just accumulate in your eyes. It just remains here. So then, you know, instinctively that was a reaction. But then when I touched this, I found that this is my eyes were wet because, you know, I had just had some tears because of the emotional feeling which was there. But this was something. So it was very emotional. And suddenly it became, you know, something so unique. Wow, this doesn't fall. You know, it's just a learning that happened to me immediately. Immediately.

25:42So, you know, everything is... How does India look? Extremely beautiful. How does India look? Very, very beautiful. I think, like I have described, just the location of how it is placed, especially in the night. It, first of all, definitely looks beautiful. It stands out, you know, as compared to the other regions. It really stands out because everything is dark and suddenly there is this lighted portion which comes in. It really looks beautiful. but more than the sight you know it was the emotional feeling that you had when you were flying over it it was not just looking at india because it is beautiful it is because that's all your experience right there below you right all your life so i think that was what was more making emotional for me yeah that that you know just flying over the country and that was more emotional for me than you know just the sight of it but yes it looks phenomenal did you take Indian food up there?

26:37We try to. We have an agency called DFRL which is under DRDO who is making food for our own mission in Kharaniya. And the aim was to qualify as much as possible you know if let's say it is able to fly to station so that means that it is certified you know already and it can be flown. So we we try to take a lot of it but only three could be qualified. Three items that I took with me. And those three items were Gajar Halua Mung Dal and Amras there is a huge item you know from as simple as khichdi to pulao to some vegetables to why I don't think that there will be a one single answer to this you know there are multiple reasons which would have been communicated but I think time was one of the biggest factor there may be may have been some additional tests that they would have wanted to do.

27:34But we did not have enough time to do those tests. So probably that was the reason that they couldn't be qualified. So these were the only three items that could be qualified from the food items that had been sent from India. Three items. Which food did you want? I couldn't eat any of them actually. Why? Because all my crew members ate these food. Everybody. And I was happy also. Because this is, you know, what better way of than sharing food flying there. so all the you know there were we had crew from us russia poland hungary japan

28:15coming back you know 12th or 13th day i i started missing food i generally don't do but i did start missing food because your taste buds also get subdued when you go to space and primarily because your the odor the sense of smell that you have that gets subdued because of the permanent congestion that you have because of fluid shifting upwards and so your sense of taste significantly reduces and also the nasa food that goes is low in sodium because of the bone health requirements so i think i was really craving salt in a salty food and the spicy food that we have so but i had already called my flight surgeon before and said that you know that please bring something salty for me when you come to pick me up.

29:00I'm just So the first contact happens with the with the Axiom flight surgeon who was who he brought me chips because that is what you know is available there so he brought me chips but my Indian flight surgeon was also there and when I met him he brought banana chips and bhakar wadi nice and dry kachodi

29:29I was speaking to Sunita Williams and she said the most dangerous smell is to eat Indian food. So, like you know that if you open it up, everybody knows it's an Indian food. No, that is true here as well. You know, we know that it's so many spices and everything, so that's what you know. How do you sleep up there? Because there's a mattress, right? so when you're in space where do you sleep in the air or not in the mattress how long do you sleep in your back where do you sleep in your back like what happens the question you asked me this is exactly my thought the first night where do I sleep in my back where should I straighten my back and you don't straighten your back you sleep in here you sleep in whatever posture it is your body automatically will assume natural posture you are in the air and a sleeping bag you get inside the sleeping bag and then you tie yourself you have to breathe yourself because otherwise you will float away in the night somewhere and once you breathe yourself you are just sleeping in the air in the bag there is no and instances you see people you know when you wake up and if someone has just been in the end of your life in the night you would find them hanging upside down or at least you will feel that way you know ultra-lutka is so right or then horizontal position there is no preferred orientation so no one no one no one no one no one where you go and go even if you try to hold on to something you will never rest yourself on this there is no way because you are in air so if you keep something you are never going to be on that because you are floating everything is floating so it is possible in your back then back neck low back body hurts after this?

31:21Your back hurts but not because of this I think. Your back hurts because you grow taller in space. Your height increases in space. Okay. Because your spine decompresses. So you grow in height. When that happens, your back pains. Your back aches. I think there were 2-3 days in between when this happened. When it happens, it's more pain. And is it bad? It is painful. Yes. I had to take medication for that. and do you dream in zero gravity I don't dream here too so I don't dream much on earth as well so I think it was not much for me and the radiation is very high right can you physically feel it once you are coming back no you don't physically feel the radiation the radiation dosage is higher but the orbit that we maintain around earth it's not very high there but that is one of the primary reasons why the duration for astronauts to stay in space is limited because of the cumulative exposure because in a few weeks there is so radiation that probably doesn't happen in years right that is true and that is why total time in space is also limited because of this you know radiation which is the factor it is limited so it increases your exposure to radiation but it is well within the limits that are specified Right.

32:48You know, medically and according to that, your duration is calculated and your, you know, And there are some terminal illness when you come back. There are changes in your body that happen. You age faster. You do so many things. Most of them are reversible. You know, when you come back to Earth, you go back. There are some changes which linger on over a period of time. So all that research is happening. You know, even if you look at the history of human space flight. how many people have gone I was 634th human to go to space and first Indian to go to international space station yes first Indian to go to international space station but these many people have gone and that is the data for last 20-25 years that we have it's a very minuscule number as compared to the human so I think whatever we surmise based on the data that we have today which we will take out of Nishkarsh I think it's very nascent now.

33:45True. So when you go to an astronaut suit, in a space suit, before astronauts need 4 hours of pre-breathing, for pure oxygen, why do they need it? What's the reason behind it? What you're talking about is for the space walk. When we go outside the station, it's not inside the station. It is when you go outside. so in my mission there was no aspect because for space swap there is another two years of training additional training that you have to do so again we are evolving in our mission so eventually I think we will reach a stage wherein we will be able to do that but as of now we are going to wear the suit that is known as the IVA suit which is intravehicular space suit and the EVA suit is the one that you are talking about which is the extravehicular what difference is there what extra training was there so there is a lot difference actually first difference that I will tell you that the IVA suit is under 16-16 kg 16-18 kg which we wear inside sari has not everybody who goes to space has to wear the IVA suit there is a last line of difference if something happens to the capsule that IVA suit will protect you for you to come back the EVA suit when you get out of the station there is no protective shell around you that EVA suit is your spaceship you know there is nothing else because between you and vacuum everything so the EVA suit has to have all the systems for you to sustain life all the environmental control and life support system so the EVA suit is around 120 to 140 kg wow so yours is like under 20 kg and it's 140 kg that is the difference because everything has to be catered the thermal rejection the oxygen supply you know moisture rejection everything water everything has to be catered by that suit so you that's totally different level altogether and the training is primarily how to navigate in that suit and it is also pressurized because there is no artificial pressure now that suit is the one that is creating pressure for you so your everything is pressurized to maintain the pressure of oxygen for you to continuously breathe so it's a very different level of technology that is required for you to get into that suit and also when you get out you are maneuvering outside you know in in microgravity in that pressurized suit the majority of your training when it happens it happens underwater in the neutral buoyancy lab in the u.s and so you get into water you simulate those conditions and then you work on the station on the outside so that is primarily those trainings are you know that take time and what's in your suit?

36:26it is protecting life per se so the primary thing that you try to achieve with so in the IVA suit what happens is all the systems don't have to be in the suit you use the spacecraft systems but that becomes your kind of shell to maintain the pressure to maintain the oxygen and that is what it essentially does so it is kind of a sealed compartment you still are connected to the oxygen source of the spacecraft which is inside the spacecraft so you don't have to carry it EVA suit you have to carry the system that is the major difference this is just one thing but for every system it becomes true what happens actually the question is mentally how do you prepare yourself for this whole thing because this training is one thing you have done everything you have done everything in space I went in space, I also wore a space suit, you are there.

37:29How do you prepare yourself mentally that anything can happen? One little thing and I'm gone for life. Or I'll be lost in space or it's death. Like there's nothing else, right? Probably, let's go, you have fighter jet experience. You have done so many fighter pilot training. You have been living a test pilot. So everyone has the feeling that one button will be pressed out and you will be saved. there is nothing here there is nothing here there are things there are systems which are in place which are thought of what they are bringing but I agree I understand your point the risk is immense even with like world's top level space technology organization one of the world's finest astronauts Sunita Williams and they were stuck in space so that is possible for more than 200 days that is possible she was confident that nothing has happened yes so yes so this is the distinction you know so you are involved in activities so you understand what is happening you understand how the planning is going you know how the process is going so sometimes a level of concern becomes more because you have more awareness that how the planning has happened risk is there I agree and your risk appetite has to be higher when you are getting into something like this but you also understand risk you calculate risk actually you don't just understand you calculate risk in terms of numbers you do and then you accept that risk everybody sits down and you accept that risk and then you get into something in the mission but when you are actually doing this you can't think like this if you think that if something is broken or this will happen it is paralyzing you know you won't be able to function so when you are doing things you only do things you just focus on what you can do at that point of time that is what is required being in the now actually allows you to function well without thinking about the consequences so that is what is actually the requirement of training two days before your launch now you're talking about your wife's phone on the phone that the bank account is this if something happens then it is this so how does your wife respond to it?

39:52It has been a long life you know and in aviation also these things happen and you see these things you learn you become stronger every time something like this happens so I have been extremely fortunate you know to have a partner that I have that she obviously understands very well and even you know after realizing and understanding supports me to the extent that she has so how does she absorb it I really don't know but she does it very well and that is why I was able to do all this but one day you were sitting with her you were talking about all the logistics and she said stop the talk logistics will be managed what were that conversations so there was no conversation it's the same thing these are big decisions which when you take you really don't know how they are going to work out You don't know how to do this in life.

40:46How to pan out. So in that moment when you take a decision, it is based on the best available knowledge that you have. And your best available wisdom that you can summon at that point of time, you take that decision. And it has to be a consensus decision. Because whatever you do, it affects your family. Your family is involved in this actively. So it was always a conscious decision. so Joe what you were talking about was when the time when I was going to training because we decided that because our son was studying here in India uprooting everything and traveling there for one year didn't make sense so it was decided that no we'll do back and forth family will do back and forth but this was disruption of life as we knew it now life was not going to be the same it was going to be different and that was a collective decision so when you're leaving what do you do you start planning for logistics like things are kept here I've talked to him this will happen that will happen and you know eventually things do work out but you try to fill up the gap by over explaining things that you have done so that was the situation where she said don't worry about it it will all get done yeah just sit but she's always fine she never showed a sign of weakness don't do it it's risky don't do it never never no you know how loved ones can get and it's not I'm not saying this is a sign of weakness in some wrong way this is a sign of weakness in terms of just love it's I don't I won't even say it's a sign of weakness I think it is a sign of concern and care concern and care for somebody and it was always there and we again fortunately she has been my friend for a long time now so fortunately for me how it has worked out that I can have very open conversations with her so we talk about things we talk about things they know you will do this she is also a part of this you know it is it is not yes there is a drive from my side but it is also from you know her side also the kind of encouragement that I do get you know then only it is possible like I said you know it's not possible to do it alone it is not possible it would be very difficult to even what do you think she sacrificed for you to live up to this dream a lot I would say you know I remember when the first time I was leaving for training in 2020 I had a son 15 months old when Kamna actually travelled to Russia with him he was just 15 months old I wasn't there at the house so the training centre was outside of Moscow and I used to be there for 5 days and you know coming back only in the weekends by herself that was the COVID period there was nobody in the house she and the kid nothing else for five days every week you know i'm i'm totally absent um this was one and a half years then and then you come back your hair for some time and then i again take off to you know it's for about a year or something so it is it is it is a challenge you know and not just being available is a huge challenge not being present is a challenge so i think that is a huge sacrifice and without that sacrifice it was not possible for this to happen so i think it it It definitely needs huge support.

44:08I wouldn't say support. It is, I think, an equal partnership in doing something like this. That is what is required. True. See, you have worked in India. You have worked in space centers, technologies or institutions in Russia. And you have done the same thing in America. How are you technologically advanced? today in field of space if you say the pace of innovation is very rapid today it's very rapid you're looking at how you know we're just talking about one company SpaceX but there are several others who have also come up and were doing a lot of good work in this domain. Is it open in India?

44:48It is open in India now now so in 2020 InSpace was created we have a new space policy that came out in 2023 and the private sector in India is also now growing very rapidly we have almost 400 startups in the space sector. We have our first unicorn in India. In the space sector. Yeah. Pawan. So it is growing rapidly and these are all kids who are making tech in India now. So that is very hard. But we are behind at this point. At this point, yes. You know, we have different starting points, I would say. But I am very positive for this entire field, you know, looking out in the front. I am very hopeful because I think that this has a transformational nature, this sector.

45:29and it is going to be something to look out for in the next decade. It is going to be very fascinating to see how the space sector in India is going to evolve. But before doing a direct comparison, I think what would be more relevant would be to ask the right question. What is it that we are comparing this for? What kind of technology are you talking about? What should we compare ourselves for or with? What do we want to do? What should we aim to do at this point? Because you've been there, you understand my mindset of those astronauts as well. the three main pillars you know that make a superpower in space today a superpower is that you have access to space on demand you know and weight not restriction where you can carry light payloads heavy payload medium payloads you have launch vehicle capability and enough numbers second is uh you know a constellation of sort which gives you hardware in space you know so that you can use it for whatever purpose you can use communication surveillance or you know remote sensing whatever is of purpose but actual hardware deployed in space that is the second thing and the third thing i would say would be the human spaceflight capability the capability to be able to send humans to space and bring them back safely so launch vehicle is one aspect of it but the spacecraft the capsule and the entire ecosystem to send them to space and bring them back safely so these are the three main things that i if you analyze all the major powers in the world like u.s russia and china are the only three countries which have these today so this is what I think we should aim for and we should try to have all of that in the near future see what you have done is commendable okay and for someone who comes from the land and there is no space in any space in science right and then you you go against the odds and then you become the first Indian to reach ISS that's incredible right there is some kid right now in some small city he didn't see himself because he's not possible what would you tell that person I think that kids today are able to think like this and I'll tell you a story about this you know why this happened I was in space and there were two times I got to interact with kids one time on the video call and one time through ham radio I was interacting with them and the intent during these calls is to answer as many questions as possible.

47:50You don't have to give the right answer because for that child you know he's able to ask a question to an astronaut in space right that is the highlight. So you want to answer quickly and you move on to the next question. So I was trying to do that and trying to answer as many questions as possible. There was a kid from northeast you know or I was at 16th question or 16th or 17th question and he asked sir you tell me that how can a little child of a little village of a little village astronaut can be and kids were asking questions like where do you sleep how do you drink water how do you eat food all that type of questions were coming and suddenly this question comes you know that you tell me that in North East Chetra how do you get a little girl astronaut can be a little girl and I actually paused you know I took some time to answer that question and I told him that I'll come back I will tell you how to become an astronaut and I hope that you become one and you know I responded that but it forced me to think I think that that desire is there but for a lot of kids who probably are not thinking you know like you said just like you said I will say that I have never thought I never thought that I will be an astronaut you know but gradually over a period of time something when we go to any sea we see a lot of things but if you start to take a step and go to one step so it becomes manageable over a period of time that is what we have to understand everybody the dream may be as big as it can be you know there is no stopping it you do what you can do at that point of time and everything is possible if it is possible for me it is possible for anybody who is there in this country you know that is what the message I would like to give them they also have to believe that the good part is that this time around the country is also evolving in a way that this is all possible too.

49:43It is possible for them to get into this and do such things and get into space exploration, become astronauts, become scientists, become researchers. It is possible. So I think it is a very exciting time to be around here at this point. Absolutely. How is this dream come to you? How will you go to this field? When did this idea come to you? Astronauts haven't thought. I don't think that it's also possible. In childhood, children say that astronaut burning yes they say and my wife when she asked when she was in school she said that she was going to be astronaut but I never said I never said that and I think there is a little strength to reach that far to think that you can be and maybe that was not the reason but I never thought that I can become an astronaut I never felt that it is possible for me Okay.

50:40We went into 1984 as well as we went into stranded inonnen increments at 1984 It was often crazy. We sang books, TV and they were coming there. But it like and I haven't been thinking, we're able to get together again in this kind. I don't think is time in binanders. It would stay as an ambition.

51:00In sixth grade, I saw a flight a year - scrutiny company for the military club. I was told that Airshow is an air base in the North of Lakhno. I was there and I saw that air show. And I was absolutely fascinated. I was mesmerized by the way. And at that time, my desire was that I would get to sit in the cockpit in a way. Just sit in the cockpit. Because they do air show. After the air show, when they finish, coming up and you can see whatufen from the one that was out and somebody was flying it.so it was that I rememberда what as fascinating you call me have you seen an air show no so I can understand wow you have to be at an air show it will fascinate you today as well and I am guaranteeing you it will fascinate you you know today it is because it is something so much especially for that time probably it would not be right for me to say that I have had a lot of experience in this but for a child who has not seen ever before, it was such a thing that they were flying solo, you know, you see something before you hear it, which is you traveling faster than sound and those things.

52:43And they are flying solo and that's what reheat sounds. So I think it was everything, that entire thing was like absolutely fascinating to me. Why it becomes exciting is that it's very fast. It is really very fast. And they do such things in your eyes. in front of you. Obviously, these things are on the top of combat. They don't get in front of you. But they will get in front of you. They will come, they will suddenly turn, roll and go upside down. Then they will go up, pitch up, pitch down. I mean, I have done this all. But I am fascinated. I will also feel it. Even now, when there is a Aero India show every two years, fighters come from the world.