White nights: Shubhanshu Shukla’s surreal ISS view; science meets wonder

Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, India’s first on the ISS, experienced ‘white nights’ during the Axiom-4 mission, where the sun never fully set. This phenomenon, caused by the station’s beta angle, challenged the crew’s sense of time and routine. Besides the awe, persistent sunlight posed operational hurdles, affecting cooling and solar array stress.