Panaji | IAF Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian to reach the International Space Station (ISS), on Friday said space sector is a "very big powerful engine" that will propel India towards realising the dream of 'Viksit Bharat 2047'.

Shukla, who scripted history by becoming the first Indian to set foot on the ISS as part of an 18-day Axiom-4 mission earlier this year, was talking to PTI after virtually addressing the students of the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) board from North Goa.

"I think I am very confident that space is going to be a very big powerful engine that is going to propel India towards the Viksit Bharat 2047 dream. I am very excited to be a part of it," he said.

"I am confident that all the momentum that we have been able to create is going to get higher at every step with missions like Gaganyaan, Bharatiya Antariksh Station as well as eventually landing on the moon by 2040," he added.

Gaganyaan is India's first human space-flight programme, while Bharatiya Antariksh Station is its planned orbital space station. Both the missions are led by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Shukla said space projects are not small dreams but are extremely complex missions that India is going to undertake.

"We try to achieve such complex missions and develop the entire ecosystem to enable such missions to happen," he said.

Space will be an important sector for India to achieve its dream of Viksit Bharat 2047, according to him.

Responding to a question about his experience of travelling to the ISS, Shukla said it was fascinating.

"It is a very different experience. You prepare for it, but when you go, you actually travel, you know it is different," he said.

Shukla said his space flight has been a great learning experience in terms of technical information and science.