California: Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and other three members of Axion Mission- 4 returned to Earth on Tuesday after spending 18 days at the International Space Station (ISS). The Dragon spacecraft slashed down off the coast of San Diego. Group Captain Shukla is the first Indian the first Indian to visit the ISS.
"Splashdown of Dragon confirmed - welcome back to Earth, @AstroPeggy, Shux, @astro_slawosz, and Tibi!" SpaceX said in a post on X. The re-entry was done following the completion of the deorbit burn and the jettisoning of the trunk, as confirmed by SpaceX.
"Dragon's nosecone is closed and secured for reentry. Splashdown in ~26 minutes," SpaceX stated in a post on X.
"Dragon's deorbit burn is complete and the trunk has been jettisoned," stated another post.
Shukla, along with fellow astronauts Peggy Whitson (USA), Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski (Poland), and Tibor Kapu (Hungary), boarded SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft "Grace" at 3:30 a.m. CT (2 PM IST) on Monday. The crew returned to earth in approximately 22.5 hours from the ISS.
The crew also witnessed over 300 sunrises and sunsets from the orbital lab. Meanwhile, ISRO on Monday noted that astronaut Shukla has completed all seven microgravity experiments and other planned activities, "achieving a milestone in the mission".
"Experiments on Indian strain of tardigrades, myogenesis, sprouting of methi and moong seeds, cyanobacteria, microalgae, crop seeds, and voyager display have been completed as planned," the national space agency said.
Notably, Grp Cpt Shukla became the second India to travel to space after Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma.
