India, Jan. 26 -- Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, an Indian Air Force officer and astronaut, will receive the Ashok Chakra, the highest peacetime gallantry medal, on the Republic Day on Monday. The honour is for his historic mission to the International Space Station(ISS)in June last year. His 18-day stay in orbit provided critical data for India's upcoming Gaganyaan mission.Shukla is the second Indian to enter space and the very first to board the ISS.

His name for the award was announced on the eve of the Republic Day on Sunday.Shukla's 18-day space odyssey came 41 years after cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma flew aboard a Russian Soyuz in 1984.As a fighter pilot, Shukla has an impressive record of 2,000 hours of flight experience across vario...