Shubhanshu Shukla likely to arrive in India by Aug 17 after post-mission protocols
The four astronauts are expected to spend seven days in rehabilitation as they adjust back to life on Earth under the influence of gravity
Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and three others of the commercial Axiom-4 mission made a fiery return to Earth as the Dragon 'Grace' spacecraft made a splash down off San Diego coast in southern California on Tuesday (July 15), capping a 22.5-hour journey after an 18-day stay at the International Space Station.
The spacecraft carrying Shukla, commander Peggy Whitson, and mission specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary, undocked from the space station at 4:45 pm IST on Monday.
"Splashdown of Dragon confirmed - welcome back to Earth, @AstroPeggy, Shux, @astro_slawosz, and Tibi," SpaceX said in a post on X.
Speed boats of SpaceX, the transporter for the mission, were seen moving towards the spacecraft to bring it to recovery ship Shannon where the astronauts will brought out from the capsule.
The Axiom-4 crew will undergo a series of medical checks on board the ship before boarding a helicopter for a ride back to the shore.
The four astronauts are expected to spend seven days in rehabilitation as they adjust back to life on Earth under the influence of gravity, unlike the weightlessness experienced in orbit. PTI
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- 15 July 2025 3:51 PM IST
Patriotic slogans raised in Lucknow as Shukla's space mission returns to Earth
"Bharat Mata Ki Jai" chants and a resounding applause rent the air as Lucknow celebrated the moment the Space-X spacecraft with city-born astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla on board landed on Earth on Tuesday afternoon.
As soon as Shukla, the first Indian astronaut to visit the International Space Station (ISS), made a successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon, thousands of miles away, his hometown of Lucknow erupted with chants and applause.
At his alma mater, the City Montessori School's (CMS's) Kanpur Road campus, smiles bloomed, eyes glistened and tears flowed freely as Shukla's family members, along with students, teachers and dignitaries, greeted the touchdown when the capsule hit the Pacific waters by waving Indian flags.
While Shukla's father, Shambhu Dayal Shukla, and mother Asha Devi wiped their tears, his sister, Suchi Misra, welcomed her brother's landing with moist eyes and folded hands. "He has been to space and back and we are all over the moon because this mission has its own importance for the country's Gaganyaan programme," Shambhu Dayal Shukla said.
Asha Devi waved a small tricolour in the run-up to the splashdown -- visibly overwhelmed with emotions at her son's feat extraordinaire.
