After an 18-day stay at the International Space Station (ISS), astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and three others of the commercial Axiom-4 mission are setting off on a return journey to Earth on Monday.
Shukla, who became the second Indian astronaut to travel to space after Rakesh Sharma’s 1984 odyssey, will board Dragon spacecraft at around 2 pm IST and embark on the return journey two hours later.
“Undocking from the ISS is scheduled for no earlier than 6:05 am CT (4:35 pm IST),” Axiom Space said in a statement.
“After a 22.5-hour journey back to Earth, the crew is expected to splash down off the coast of California at approximately 4:31 am CT (3:01 pm IST on Tuesday),” it added.
The journey back is expected to last approximately 22 hours.
On Sunday, the Expedition’s 73 astronauts organised a traditional farewell ceremony for the Axiom-4 crew comprising Shukla, commander Peggy Whitson, and mission specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.
“41 years ago, an Indian came to space and he told us how India looks from up above. Today’s India looks ambitious from space, today’s India looks fearless, today’s India looks confident, today’s India looks full of pride… today’s India still looks ‘saare jahan se acha,’” said Shukla in his farewell address aboard the ISS.
He spoke both in English and Hindi on the eve of the commencement of the Axiom-4 crew’s return journey to Earth. “Our journey ahead into space exploration may be long and arduous, but it has begun,” he added.
The descent of Dragon spacecraft from the ISS is designed to be completely autonomous. After undocking, Dragon will perform a series of engine burns to safely distance itself from the ISS and begin re-entry procedures.
Final preparations include detaching the capsule’s trunk and orienting the heat shield ahead of atmospheric entry, which will expose the spacecraft to temperatures nearing 1,600 degrees Celsius.
Parachutes will deploy in two stages — first stabilising chutes at about 5.7 km altitude followed by the main parachutes at roughly two km.
Splashdown is expected off the coast of California approximately 22.5 hours after undocking and the space capsule will be recovered by a specialised ship.
The four astronauts are expected to spend seven days in rehabilitation as they adjust back to life on earth under the influence of gravity, unlike the weightlessness experienced in orbit.
It has been a historic trip for Shukla, who became the first Indian to travel to the ISS and only the second to travel to space after Sharma’s pathbreaking spaceflight as part of the then Soviet Union’s mission to Salyut-7 space station in 1984.
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ISRO paid approximately Rs 550 crore for Shukla’s travel to the ISS, an experience that will help the space agency in the planning and execution of its human spaceflight programme, Gaganyaan, set to take to orbit in 2027.
