In a historic mission under Axiom Space’s Ax-4 program, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian to reach the International Space Station (ISS), is scheduled to return to Earth on Tuesday.
Shukla and his three international crewmates will splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California at 3:01 p.m. IST (4:31 AM CT) following an incredible 18-day stint onboard the orbiting laboratory.
Peggy Whitson (USA), Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski (Poland), and Tibor Kapu (Hungary) were among the other astronauts that boarded SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft “Grace” around 3:30 a.m. CT (2 PM IST) on Monday.
At 7:15 a.m. ET (4:45 p.m. IST), the spacecraft disembarked from the Harmony module of the ISS.
NASA verified that the hatch was closed at 5:07 a.m. EDT, and SpaceX quickly followed up with the announcement, “Dragon separation confirmed,” on its official X account.
“Dragon is GO to undock from the Space Station,” noted SpaceX in an X post.
The post further stated, “Dragon separation confirmed!”
This completes a roundtrip trip that took over 23 hours. when spending more than two weeks in microgravity, Shukla will start a seven-day rehabilitation program to acclimate to Earth’s gravity when the crew is recovered by recovery personnel upon splashdown.
In order to accommodate more scientific investigation and teamwork on board, Shukla’s initial 14-day mission was extended to 18 days. After Rakesh Sharma’s historic 1984 voyage, he became only the second Indian astronaut to reach space thanks to his involvement in the Ax-4 mission.
Shukla thanked ISRO, NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX for the experience, calling it “an incredible journey” in a heartfelt farewell letter from space. Looking down from the ISS cupola, he said, “India still looks better than the whole world.”
India is proud of Shukla’s return today, which marks a major advancement in the nation’s expanding role in international space exploration.
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