Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla says that he felt like a baby while in space and adapting to the new environment becomes extremely challenging. “You are like a baby or like a small child. You have to learn to eat, you have to learn to walk, you have to learn to sleep, you have to learn to go to the bathroom. Everything is new when one reaches space,” said Shukla while addressing the Tech Summit in Bengaluru.

Shukla said that technology has changed the way aircraft and spacecrafts are flown these days. “I have been a pilot for most of my life and I have done active flying but I have never flown an aircraft or a spacecraft using a touch screen. Interestingly, the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft on which I went to space can be operated using a touch screen. It has no physical handles and physical controls. That is technology,” remarked Shukla.

He said he had been training as an astronaut since 2020 and was confident but the real experience was something very different. “The moment the rocket engine lights up beneath you, everything that you know about your training goes out of the window. You forget everything. It is an extremely powerful movement. It is massively powerful. It is great. It is too fast and that has to be understood. So, when you sit in a fighter plane and you turn on, you experience G-load from your head to toe. It goes down. And when you sit in a capsule, you experience it through your chest,” pointed out Shukla.

He said that the human body undergoes crushing forces when in space. “ How do you ensure that humans can operate it under such heavy forces? These are the problems that we are working on right now,” said Shukla.

He said that in a little over eight minutes, one goes from 0 km to 28,500 kmph and the speed gain is tremendous. “I had never experienced such speeds before. It is just mind-boggling,” said Shukla.

He said after reaching space it was even more exciting as one is swimming in air and not in water. “You are swimming in air and you are floating and it is effortless. But it is very disorienting as well because on ground we have a very good idea of up, down, left, right because our head is always up. But in space there is no such requirement. You can be upside down and still feel that you are up and down,” remarked Shukla.

In space, Shukla found it exciting to lift heavy weights as there was no gravity. Due to zero gravity, Shukla also lost a lot of weight and muscle mass. He said that space missions are difficult and one has to be mentally strong to accomplish them successfully.

“Your mental strength should be very high to deal with unexpected challenges. While re-entering the atmosphere your entire capsule is like a big ball of fire. Although it is beautiful to look at, it can be very dangerous. Temperatures are 4,000 degree plus. But it is fun. Super fun. I cannot complain,” said Shukla.

He said that after his return to Earth, he had forgotten to walk. “You can’t walk. Even if you have the strength, you won’t be able to walk,” said Shukla.