Shubhanshu Shukla’s return to Earth begins today after historic ISS mission

NEW DELHI: Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, India’s first astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS), is set to return to Earth after successfully completing an 18-day mission under the Axiom-4 (AX-4) private spaceflight.

The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft carrying Shukla and three international crewmates will undock from the ISS at 4:30 PM IST (Indian Standard Time) on Monday and is expected to splash down in the Pacific Ocean near the California coast around 3:00 p.m. IST on July 15 (Tuesday).

Shukla, an officer of the Indian Air Force, flew to the ISS alongside veteran American astronaut and mission commander Peggy Whitson, ESA astronaut Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland, and Hungarian astronaut Tibor Kapu. Their journey aboard the Dragon spacecraft marked the fourth private mission by Axiom Space in collaboration with NASA and SpaceX.