India, Aug. 15 -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India plans to build its own space station during his Independence Day address at the Red Fort on Friday.

He referred to astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla's recent 18-day mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS), noting, "Shubhanshu Shukla is back from a successful space mission and will soon return to India." Shukla joined the Axiom-4 private mission, launching from Florida on June 25 and docking at the ISS a day later. With three crewmates - Peggy Whitson (US), Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski (Poland) and Tibor Kapu (Hungary) - he carried out over 60 experiments and 20 outreach sessions during the 18-day stay.

He said India is striving for self-reliance in the space secto...