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The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft carrying India’s Shubhanshu Shukla and the multinational Axiom-4 crew has successfully completed its splashdown, marking the end of a carefully coordinated 22-hour return journey from the International Space Station.
Shukla’s safe return has brought immense pride to India, highlighting the nation’s steadily expanding presence in global space missions and its collaboration in cutting-edge international exploration efforts.
The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft carrying Gp. Capt. Shubhanshu Shukla and three other Axiom-4 mission crew members has successfully splashed down off the coast of California, United States, marking the end of their 18-day stay on the International Space Station (ISS).
The capsule, nicknamed ‘Grace’, touched the Pacific Ocean waters at the scheduled time of 3.01 pm IST on Tuesday, 15 July, following a 22-and-a-half-hour journey from the ISS, where it undocked at around 4.50 pm IST on Monday.
Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) piloted the return mission, bringing pride to India as the nation strengthens its role in international space exploration.
During their time aboard the ISS, the Axiom-4 team carried out at least 60 experiments, adding valuable data to ongoing research in low-Earth orbit.
Following splashdown, helicopters airlifted the crew to shore for medical checks and re-acclimatisation, a process expected to take a few days.
The return mirrors the recent landing of Indian-origin US astronaut Sunita Williams and her colleague Butch Wilmore, who splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean near Florida in March after spending nine months on the ISS aboard SpaceX’s ‘Freedom’ capsule.
The Axiom-4 mission marks the 18th crewed spaceflight by Elon Musk’s SpaceX since 2020 and strengthens Axiom Space’s growing business of flying astronauts sponsored by private firms and foreign governments into orbit.
Axiom is also among a handful of companies working to build a commercial space station to replace the ISS, which NASA plans to retire by around 2030.
