Astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, who is part of the Axiom-4 mission, referred to the words of Rakesh Sharma and said India still looked 'sare jahan se accha' (the best place in the world) from space.

He remarked during his farewell speech, ahead of leaving the International Space Station (ISS) following his two-and-a-half-week stay in the facility.

"It has been an incredible journey," he said in his farewell speech.

"I did not imagine all this when I started on Falcon 9 on June 25," he said.

Praising his ISS colleague, Shukla said, "It has been made incredible because of all the people involved. It was an incredible joy to be here."

Looking back on his journey, Shukla said: "Over the past 2.5 weeks, we have done a lot of science on the station. We have done outreach activities and looked back at the Earth whenever we found time. It also seems magical to me."

Referring to the words of Rakesh Sharma, India's first astronaut to visit space, Shukla said: "41 years ago, an Indian went to space and said how India looks from space."

"We will like to know how India looks from space now. India looks ambitious,  fearless, confident and proud from space today."

"India still looks 'sare Jahan se accha' from space," he said.

Axiom 4 or Mission 'Akash Ganga' is the first firm step for India's Gaganyaan human space flight mission.

The three astronauts who travelled to ISS with Shukla are Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland, Tibor Kapu of Hungary, and Dr Peggy Whitson of the US.

Shubhanshu Shukla and three other crew members of Axiom 4 will begin their return journey to Earth on July 14, NASA has announced.

A splashdown is expected several hours after the undocking, near the coast of California in the Pacific Ocean.