New Delhi, Aug. 1 -- The experience gained by IAF Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla onboard the International Space Station will be extremely valuable for India's Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission, said ISRO.

SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft "Grace" carrying IAF Group Captain Shukla and three other astronauts, part of the Axiom Space Mission-4 (Ax-4) splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California in July. "The experience gained by Shubhanshu Shukla during his time on the ISS will be extremely valuable for the Gaganyaan programme planned over the next two years," said Nilesh M Desai, Director, Space Applications Centre, ISRO.

Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh said the safe return of Shukla from I...