Adityanath hails Lucknow-born astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla on Ashoka Chakra honour
Lucknow (PTI): Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday congratulated Indian Air Force Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, a native of Lucknow, on being conferred the Ashoka Chakra, saying his courage and composure has given a new thrust to India's human spaceflight programme.
President Droupadi Murmu honoured Shukla with the country's highest peacetime gallantry award on the 77th Republic Day at Kartavya Path in New Delhi for his "indomitable courage and outstanding valour" in successfully carrying the Axiom Mission-4 to the International Space Station (ISS).
"Your fearlessness, commitment and restraint have given a new flight to India's human space programme," the chief minister said in a Hindi post on X.
Shukla's achievement would continue to inspire future generations to move ahead in the fields of science and research, he added.
In June last year, Shukla created history by becoming the first Indian to set foot on the ISS and the second Indian to travel to space, 41 years after the legendary Rakesh Sharma's 1984 mission.
Earlier, the Uttar Pradesh government also honoured Shukla on various occasions for his accomplishments last year. Most recently, on January 24, he was among five luminaries of the state conferred with the UP "Gaurav Samman" on the occasion of the statehood day.
Shukla was part of the Axiom-4 mission, executed by US-based private firm Axiom Space in collaboration with NASA, the European Space Agency and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). During his 18-day stay aboard the ISS, he conducted a series of advanced scientific experiments that drew praise from global space experts.
An accomplished fighter pilot with over 2,000 hours of flying experience on aircraft, including the Su-30 MKI, MiG-21, MiG-29, Jaguar and Hawk, Shukla was commissioned into the Indian Air Force in June 2006.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Bridge portion collapses on Jammu outskirts; 3-4 labourers feared trapped, 1 rescued
Jammu (PTI): A portion of a small bridge collapsed in the Bantalab area on the outskirts of Jammu city on Friday, trapping at least three to four labourers under the debris, while one injured worker was rescued, official sources said.
Authorities have closed the road link following the collapse of the portion of the bridge.
The incident occurred when labourers were carrying out repair work on a retaining wall near the bridge that was damaged in last year's flash floods, the sources said.
According to the sources, a section of the bridge suddenly gave way, burying workers engaged at the site under the rubble.
Police, Army and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams launched rescue operations to extricate those buried under the debris. They pulled out one injured labourer and shifted him to a hospital, the sources said.
Family members of the labourers present at the site said around six workers engaged at the site at the time of the incident came under the debris when the structure collapsed. The family members said while two of the labourers managed to escape, four got trapped.
The sources said those trapped included the husband of a woman labourer, a mason, an unmarried labourer and a relative of the contractor.
There was no official confirmation on the exact number of persons trapped under the debris till the filing of this report.
The rescue operations are ongoing.
