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Shukla’s journey home begins
On June 26, Shukla, who represented the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) became the first Indian astronaut on ISS
Monday marked the end of a historic 20-day space mission for Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla who, along with three Axiom-4 (Ax-4) crew members, took off for a 22.5-hour return journey to Earth.
At 4.45pm IST, the Dragon Grace spacecraft with commander Peggy Whitson, mission pilot Shukla and mission specialists Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski and Tibor Kapu autonomously undocked from space-facing port on the Harmony module of the International Space Station (ISS) where the crew spent 18 days.
The spacecraft then performed a series of departure burns to move away from the orbiting laboratory.
Grace, after conducting several orbit-lowering maneuvers and jettisoning the trunk, will reenter the Earth’s atmosphere for a splashdown off the coast of California at 3.01pm IST on Tuesday.
The process of return of the fourth private astronaut’s mission started at 2pm IST with the crew, donning their space suits, entering the SpaceX’s Grace capsule before hatch closure. At 2.10pm, Shukla floated in, preceded by Whitson and followed by Uznański-Wiśniewski and Kapu.
At 2.37pm, the hatches between the Dragon capsule and APAS hatch on ISS were sealed. What followed was an almost two-hour wait inside Grace during which depressurization of the vestibule was carried out to bring it down to vacuum followed by checks to rule out any leaks.
Before undocking, the spacecraft’s umbilical arms retracted from ISS, and 12 hard capture hooks got unscrewed in two phases lasting 4.5 minutes. Once undocked, the spacecraft executed a series of departure burns to move away from the space station into an orbital track before reentering the Earth’s atmosphere.
Mission teams from Axiom, SpaceX and Nasa said weather conditions for Tuesday’s splashdown “looked good with no rain or lightning in the recovery zone and wind speed of 10miles per hour as required”.
Union minister Jitendra Singh expressed delight on the successful undocking of the Axiom-4. “Welcome back Shubhanshu! The entire nation eagerly awaits your arrival back home...as you begin your return journey, after successful undocking of Axiom4,” he said in a post on X.
The crew will undergo medical examination in SpaceX’s recovery vessels at potential splashdown sites before being flown by helicopter to Houston, Texas. The crew will then undergo about a week’s rehabilitation programme under the supervision of flight surgeons to enable them to adapt back to Earth’s gravity.
In a pre-recorded conversation, released by Axiom Space on Monday, Whitson said, “From me having experienced it, I know first person it sucks. Gravity really does. And so, I am not looking forward to that part... I am a downhill person where I don’t really adjust well to gravity as I adjust to microgravity.”
Shukla, on the other hand, said he has no expectations of going back in gravity being a first timer. “…I did have some symptoms coming up. So I am hoping that I will not (have them) going down.”
On June 26, Shukla, who represented the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) became the first Indian astronaut on ISS. The private human spaceflight mission also marked the return to space for India, Poland and Hungary in more than 40 years.
Since docking with ISS, the four-member crew has spent approximately 433 hours, 18 days, and 288 orbits around Earth covering nearly 7.6 million. Living and staying on ISS, Ax-4 crew undertook more than 60 scientific experiments, 20 outreach events and commercial activities.
As the spacecraft undocked, Shukla’s parents said that they will pray for his safe landing.
Group Captain Shukla’s father, Shambu Dayal Shukla, expressed his joy over the undocking and said that the country is proud of him.
“We are very happy that the undocking took place safely. We expect that the landing will also take place smoothly tomorrow. We have faith in the Almighty. We are all very proud of our son. The country is very proud of him that he is coming back after successfully completing the mission,” he told ANI.
