India issues ISRO stamps

India Post released two commemorative stamps and souvenir sheets on April 12 that put India’s human space program — including Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla’s Axiom 4 mission — onto official postage. (newsonair.gov.in) The Department of Posts unveiled the issue in Bengaluru on the International Day of Human Space Flight, and the designs trace India’s space story from Aryabhata, the country’s first satellite launched in 1975, to Gaganyaan, the planned Indian crewed spacecraft. (newsonair.gov.in) (cnbctv18.com) One souvenir sheet includes a design inspired by the mission patch worn by Shukla on Axiom Mission 4, the commercial astronaut flight that sent him to the International Space Station in June 2025. The Times of India reported the patch-based design was part of the April 12 release. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) (isro.gov.in) Human spaceflight is the part of a space program that sends people, not just satellites, into orbit. India’s Gaganyaan program is meant to build that capacity at home, starting with a crewed mission to low Earth orbit and extending to longer-term orbital missions. (pmindia.gov.in) Shukla’s flight fits into that plan because it gave India a live mission on the International Space Station before Gaganyaan flies with astronauts on an Indian system. Axiom Space says Ax-4 was the first mission to the station for India, Poland and Hungary, and described Shukla as India’s second national astronaut since 1984. (axiomspace.com) The Indian Space Research Organisation said Axiom-4 launched on June 25, 2025, and Shukla returned after an 18-day mission aboard the station. The agency said the mission covered about 12 million kilometers and roughly 282 orbits. (isro.gov.in) The stamp issue also points to India’s next target beyond a single crewed flight: an Indian-run space station in orbit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office said in 2023 that the first module of Bharatiya Antariksh Station is planned for launch in 2028 and that the station is meant to be operational by 2035. (pmindia.gov.in) At the Bengaluru event, Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman V. Narayanan outlined upcoming milestones across the program, according to public broadcaster News On Air. The postal release turned those milestones into something more ordinary and visible: a government-issued set of stamps that treats human spaceflight as part of India’s national story. (newsonair.gov.in)