Stunning video captures Shubhanshu Shukla's re-entry to Earth aboard Dragon spacecraft | Watch
Shubhanshu Shukla is undergoing a series of post-mission procedures and is expected to return to India by August 17, said Union Minister Jitendra Singh.
Indian Air Force Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla returned to Earth on Tuesday, July 15, after creating history by becoming the first Indian to travel to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Axiom-4 mission.
The SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft which carried Shubhanshu Shukla and his fellow astronauts on the mission back to Earth splashed down on the Pacific Ocean off the California coast after four of the spacecraft’s parachutes deployed, making for a spectacle.
A video of Axiom-4 mission’s re-entry to Earth taken from California’s Marine County caught the space company’s attention and was reposted on the company’s X (formerly Twitter) account.
The mesmerising video, posted by a user named Scott Manley, shows Axiom-4’s reentry from a distance. The dragon spacecraft carrying the crew is seen making a projectile as it makes its way towards the ocean. The spacecraft’s plasma trail makes it look like a slow moving shooting star.
The video was captioned, “Axiom 4 Reentry from Marin county”. The user who shared it, Scott Manley, is a space enthusiast with 1.79 million subscribers on YouTube and over half a million followers on X.
Aboard the rocket creating the string of light seen in the video was the Axiom-4 crew including - Mission pilot Shubhanshu Shukla from India, commander Peggy Whitson from the US, and mission specialists Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary.
When will Shubhanshu Shukla return home?
Shukla, along with the rest of the crew, is undergoing a series of post-mission procedures after his arrival and is currently in the United States. According to Union Minister Jitendra Singh, Shukla is expected to return to India by August 17.
"There are certain SOPs to be followed... His rehabilitation, debriefing sessions and a series of discussions with Team ISRO. We might expect him in Delhi by August 17," Singh told news agency PTI on Tuesday.
