India, Jan. 25 -- Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla of the Indian Air Force (IAF) has been conferred with the Ashoka Chakra, India's highest peacetime military decoration, for his contribution to the space programme through his journey and stay at the International Space Station.

Shukla created history by reaching the ISS after launch by SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre on June 26, 2025. He became the first Indian astronaut to set foot on ISS.

However, among Indians who have gone to space, he is the second, after Rakesh Sharma, also of the IAF, who flew four decades years earlier.

Sharma was awarded the Ashok Chakra too.

Apart from Shukla, Group Captain PB Nair, one of the four designated astronauts for the Ga...