Shukla, inspired by Rakesh Sharma, praised India's progress from space. His family expressed joy and relief at his safe return. The Dragon spacecraft carried over 580 pounds of cargo, including experiment data, back to Earth.
Houston: After spending nearly 20 days in space during the Axiom-4 (Ax-4) mission, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla safely returned to Earth, splashing down off the coast of San Diego, California, around 3 PM IST on Tuesday. Shubhanshu had become the first Indian astronaut to visit the International Space Station on June 25 after the Axiom-4 mission was launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Before leaving the ISS, Group Captain Shukla delivered an emotional farewell speech. Inspired by India's first man in space, Rakesh Sharma, he proudly said: "Aaj ka Bharat abhi bhi saare jahaan se acha dikhta hai." (Today’s India still looks more splendid than the entire world). He went on to say that India today looks ambitious, fearless, confident and proud, even from space.
According to a post on X by SpaceX, the crew, aboard its Dragon spacecraft re-entered the Earth's atmosphere, with a "brief sonic boom" ahead of their splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. The crew boarded the SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, Grace, which took around 22.5 hours back to Earth from the ISS. Earlier, on Monday, the Ax-4 successfully undocked and marked their way back to Earth, as observed by Axiom Space and NASA.
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Proud Family Welcomes Shubhanshu
Ahead of the splashdown of the Dragon spacecraft, Group Captain Shubanshu Shukla's father Shambhu Dayal Shukla expressed his happiness on his son's return. Speaking to ANI, Shambhu Dayal Shukla said that the splashdown would be noted down in history. "We are very excited that our son is returning from the mission and landing on Earth. He had made us so proud. It will be noted down in history... We are waiting for his safe landing. It is a day of joy for the entire nation. I thank the entire nation for their prayers... He is our son, but he belongs to the entire nation... We prayed and remembered God..." the father told ANI.
Speaking with ANI, Shubhanshu Shukla's mother, Asha Shukla, expressed her desire to meet her son, "If we had our way, we would rush to meet him there. But that is not possible." Asha Shukla also said that her family prayed to Lord Shiva for the safe return of her son. "There is so much excitement... Today is a special day for Lord Shiv. We woke up early in the morning and went to the temple. We performed the Abhishek of Lord Shiv. We prayed to God that our child should come back safely and no harm should come to him after landing on earth," she said.
His sister Shuchi Mishra said, "Today again we are feeling the same emotions that we had on the day he went for the mission. We will celebrate a lot when he comes back." "Every day, we prayed and thanked God. When we talked to him, he seemed very happy... Being a pilot and now an astronaut, he might have seen the different beauty of our nation, and there is no doubt that 'Saare Jahan se acha Hindustan humara', " she added.
60 Scientific Studies Conducted
Axiom Space, in its live session on X, noted that the Axiom-4 mission saw over 60 scientific studies and more than 20 outreach events. The Ax-4 crew, comprising Commander Peggy Whitson, Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), European Space Agency (ESA) project astronaut Slawosz "Suave" Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland, and Hungarian to Orbit (HUNOR) astronaut Tibor Kapu, had been actively engaged in research and outreach activities aboard the ISS as part of the mission during the past 18-days.
As per NASA, the Dragon spacecraft will return to Earth with more than 580 pounds of cargo, including NASA hardware and data from over 60 experiments conducted during the mission. Axiom Mission 4 was launched on June 25 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. The Dragon spacecraft successfully docked with the ISS on June 26 at 4:05 pm IST, ahead of schedule, connecting to the space-facing port of the station's Harmony module.
