Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, India’s first astronaut to visit the International Space Station (ISS), is set to undock from the orbiting laboratory today along with the rest of the Axiom-4 (Ax-4) crew, concluding their 18-day mission in space. The crew’s splashdown in the Pacific Ocean is expected on Tuesday, July 15.
According to NASA, departure operations will begin with hatch closure at 4:30 AM EDT (2:00 PM IST), followed by undocking at around 7:05 AM EDT (4:30 PM IST). The entire undocking process will be broadcast on NASA+, with coverage ending 30 minutes after separation.
The Ax-4 crew’s return journey to Earth aboard SpaceX’s Dragon Grace spacecraft will take approximately 22.5 hours. Splashdown is scheduled for around 3 PM IST on Tuesday off the coast of California, and will be streamed live on axiom.space/live and SpaceX’s official channels.
Before departure, Gp Capt Shukla delivered a heartfelt message from the ISS, echoing the legendary words of Rakesh Sharma: “Aaj ka Bharat abhi bhi saare jahaan se achha dikhta hai,” (Today’s India still appears better than the entire world).
He added, “From space, today’s India looks ambitious, fearless, confident, and full of pride. That’s why I can say again—today’s India is still the best.”
Expressing his gratitude to ISRO, NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX, Shukla praised the international collaboration that made the mission possible and called the experience transformative.
The Ax-4 crew includes:
- Commander Peggy Whitson (USA, Axiom Space)
- Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla (India, ISRO)
- Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski (Poland, ESA)
- Tibor Kapu (Hungary, HUNOR program)
Throughout their time aboard the ISS, the crew conducted research, technology demonstrations, and educational outreach. They will return with over 580 pounds of cargo, including critical NASA hardware and scientific data from more than 60 experiments.
The Ax-4 mission was launched on June 25 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Dragon spacecraft successfully docked with the ISS a day later on June 26, connecting to the Harmony module.
The successful completion of this mission marks a historic milestone for India’s human spaceflight ambitions and paves the way for future collaboration in low-Earth orbit exploration.
