New Delhi, Aug. 24 -- India is now rubbing shoulders with developed nations in space technology, Isro chairman V Narayanan said on Saturday, commending the successful expedition of Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla to the International Space Station (ISS). Speaking at an event commemorating National Space Day, Narayanan hailed Shukla's mission as a major achievement for the space agency. He also gave credit to the three other astronauts, Prashanth Nair, Angad Prathap and Ajit Krishnan, who are currently training with Shukla for Gaganyaan -- India's maiden human space mission. "One of the major achievements we have is sending our own Gaganyatri to the ISS. It was the idea of the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) to send one of the Gaganyatris to ISS before sending them through our rocket... We should give credit to Shukla for his achievement. But, I say all four are equal and on par with us," Narayanan said. He highlighted key milestones for Isro, including the Aditya L1 mission, SpaDex docking, the 100th launch with GSLV-F15 and the Nasa-Isro Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) missions. "A country that was 60 years behind the advanced spacefaring nations, today, we are rubbing shoulders with developed nations," Narayanan said. He also noted the significant technological leap from India's first launch vehicle with a 17-tonne carrying capacity to a 40-storey tall launch vehicle capable of carrying 2,600 tonnes (are we sure this is tonnes...?) payload. Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla said India is in a "golden period" for space exploration and called for a collective effort to realise future ambitions. "To realise our ambitions, we need the nation to bring them into reality... This excitement for India is present all over the world and is not limited to Isro. It is our job to perform," he said. Astronaut Prashanth Nair shared similar sentiments, noting a global admiration for India's space programme. "We are not looking too far when people from the Japanese space agency, SpaceX, European Space Agency (ESA) would be flying with us in the Gaganyaan. We bring something totally different to the world," he said. Echoing their views, Angad Prathap emphasised the need for human space flights to achieve superpower status. "We have a government today that is supporting the space sector. One of the key things that is stopping us from becoming a superpower is human space flight," he said....