San Diego: A video has surfaced showing Shubhanshu Shukla's family celebrating his safe return along with other crew members of Axiom-4 after spending 18 days in space. In the video, family members can be seen eating and sharing cake at the City Montessori School in Lucknow, where they watched the live telecast of the entire landing event.
“We felt amazing that Shubhanshu’s mission was successful and that he had a safe landing. We are very proud of him. I thank God for this,” Shambhu Dayal Shukla, father of Shubhanshu Shukla was qouted saying by news agency PTI.
Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla re-entered the Earth's atmosphere and splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean at approximately 3:01 pm (IST), completing the Axiom-4 mission and becoming India's second astronaut to return form the International Space Station (ISS).
The Dragon capsule, code-named Grace, touched water about 30 km off the coast of San Diego after a flawless de-orbit burn and parachute deployment sequence. All four crew members are reported to be in good health and were safely extracted by SpaceX recovery teams.
In Lucknow, Shukla’s family erupted in cheers, having spent the morning in prayer. His mother had recited verses of the ‘Sunderkand’ as the capsule began its descent.
“Welcome back Shubhanshu! The entire nation eagerly awaits your arrival back home,” Union minister Jitendra Singh tweeted the moment splashdown was confirmed. ISRO’s Nilesh M Desai also called the mission “an unforgettable experience”.
The crew 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."
