Axiom-4 Crew Including Shubhanshu Shukla Departs from ISS — Here’s When and Where They’ll Land (Image Source: NASA)
After an 18-day mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS), Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and the three other Axiom-4 crew members began their return to Earth on Monday, July 14, at 4:35 PM IST. Their spacecraft is expected to splash down off the coast of California at around 3:00 PM IST on Tuesday, after completing a 22.5-hour journey.
Ahead of their return, mission pilot Shubanshu Shukla, commander Peggy Whitson, and mission specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary boarded the Dragon Grace spacecraft and put on their space suits for the trip back to Earth. The spacecraft’s hatch, which linked it to the ISS, was sealed at 2:37 PM IST, and the crew carried out final inspections before undocking from the space station at 4:35 PM IST.
The US space agency NASA broadcast the departure procedures live. Once separated from the ISS, the Dragon spacecraft will carry out multiple engine burns to create a safe distance before starting its re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. Final preparations include separating the capsule's trunk and deploying the heat shield before entering the atmosphere, where the spacecraft will endure temperatures reaching around 1,600°C.
The parachutes will be deployed in two stages—first, stabilisation parachutes at about 5.7 km altitude, followed by main parachutes at around 2 km altitude. The spacecraft is expected to splash down near the California coast at approximately 3:01 PM IST, about 22.5 hours after undocking, and will be retrieved by a special recovery ship.
The Axiom-4 mission lifted off on June 25, as a Falcon 9 rocket launched the Dragon capsule from Florida to the International Space Station. It marked the first time in over 40 years that astronauts from India, Poland, and Hungary returned to space.
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