SAN DIEGO, July 15 — After nearly three weeks aboard the International Space Station (ISS), astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and three fellow crew members of the Axiom-4 mission returned safely to Earth on Tuesday. Their SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, Grace, splashed down off the coast of San Diego, capping a 22.5-hour journey from orbit.
“Splashdown of Dragon confirmed — welcome back to Earth, @AstroPeggy, Shux, @astro_slawosz, and Tibi,” SpaceX posted on X, confirming the successful landing.
The commercial crew—comprising India’s Shukla, mission commander Peggy Whitson of the United States, Polish engineer Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski, and Hungarian scientist Tibor Kapu—undocked from the ISS at 4:45 pm IST on Monday. Their descent included a de-orbit burn at 2:07 pm IST, trunk separation at 2:26 pm, and parachute deployment at 2:57 pm, before Grace pierced Earth’s atmosphere and landed amid scorching heat and a sonic boom.
Speed boats from SpaceX quickly approached the floating capsule and towed it to recovery ship Shannon, where the astronauts were extracted and taken onboard for medical evaluations. The crew is expected to undergo a week of rehabilitation to adapt back to Earth’s gravity after their time in microgravity.
Shukla’s participation marks a watershed moment in India’s space journey—he is the first Indian to visit the ISS and only the second Indian in space after Rakesh Sharma’s 1984 Soviet mission aboard Salyut-7.
“Aaj ka Bharat mahatvakanshi, nidar, confident aur garv se purn dikhta hai (Today’s India looks ambitious, fearless, confident, and full of pride),” Shukla said during a farewell ceremony aboard the ISS. “That’s why I can say once again—today’s India still looks saare jahan se accha.”
Before leaving the station, the Axiom-4 crew shared warm embraces and handshakes. Donning his spacesuit, Shukla signed off with a heartfelt message: “Jaldi hi dharti pe mulaqat karte hai” (We’ll meet on Earth soon).
India’s space agency, ISRO, is understood to have invested around ₹550 crore (approximately $66 million) to send Shukla on this commercial mission in partnership with Axiom Space. The experience and insights gained from his stay aboard the ISS are expected to significantly inform ISRO’s own crewed mission—Gaganyaan—scheduled for 2027.
This mission not only marked India’s symbolic return to human spaceflight after four decades but also laid groundwork for its future ambitions in low-Earth orbit and beyond.
