Axiom-4 mission: Shubhanshu Shukla, crew members head again to Earth after 18-day keep

After spending 18 days on the Worldwide House Station (ISS), Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and his Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) crew members departed from the orbiting laboratory on Monday (July 14, 2025) onboard the SpaceX Dragon.

The Ax-4 crew members’ return journey to earth commenced at 4.45 p.m. IST because the Dragon autonomously undocked from the forward-facing port of the ISS’s Concord module and would conclude with a splashdown off the California coast on Tuesday (July 15, 2025).

The journey again to earth would take about 22.5 hours. Following a sequence of orbital manoeuvres after undocking, Dragon is anticipated to splash down roughly at 3 p.m. IST on Tuesday (July 15, 2025).

On Monday (July 14, 2025), Group Captain Shukla, who’s the pilot for the Ax-4 mission and different crew members Commander Peggy Whitson of the U.S., Mission Specialist Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland, and Mission Specialist Tibor Kapu of Hungary boarded the Dragon spacecraft as per schedule and suited up of their spacesuits.

A couple of minutes later at 2.37 p.m. IST, the hatch was closed between the Dragon spacecraft and the ISS in preparation for the undocking.

The undocking which was scheduled to happen at 4.35 p.m. IST was delayed for a couple of minutes and the Dragon’s detachment from the ISS occurred at 4.45 p.m. A sequence of departure burns have been carried out to maneuver away from the area station.

‘433 hours, 18 days, and 288 orbits’

“After roughly 433 hours, 18 days, and 288 orbits round earth masking practically 7.6 million miles since docking with the ISS , the Ax-4 crew is formally homeward sure,” Axiom House stated.

Submit undocking from the ISS to the splashdown, there are seven phases the Dragon spacecraft will encounter on its return journey to earth.

The primary one is the departure burns, the place the Dragon will carry out 4 small burns to maneuver away from the ISS. These burns have been efficiently executed on Monday (July 14, 2025).

This will probably be adopted by the phasing burns through which the Dragon will carry out a sequence of orbit-lowering manoeuvrers that can line up its floor observe with the specified touchdown location.

The following can be the Deorbit burn, which is scheduled at 2.07 p.m. IST  (1.37 a.m. PT) on Tuesday (July 15, 2025). On this section, the spacecraft conducts the deorbit burn for as much as 24 minutes.

SpaceX stated after the spacecraft deorbit burns are accomplished, the flight laptop jettisons the trunk to securely splash down within the Pacific Ocean forward of atmospheric re-entry.

Re-entry in earth’s environment

The following section is the re-entry section throughout which the Dragon experiences important heating and drag because it re-enters earth’s environment which slows the speed to the purpose of protected parachute deployment.

The penultimate section is the place the parachutes deploy. “The Dragon’s two drogue parachutes deploy at 55 km above the Pacific Ocean, adopted by 4 essential parachutes that deploy at 2 km,” SpaceX stated.

Within the ultimate splashdown section below 4 essential parachutes, the Dragon splashes down at a velocity of 27 kilometres per hour and autonomously releases its parachutes.

A House X restoration vessel will choose up the crew from the ocean, they’ll then endure their first medical checks onboard the restoration vessel earlier than flying on a helicopter again to land.

From there, the crew will probably be flown to Houston the place they are going to be reunited with their respective groups.

Based on ISRO, Group Captain Shukla will endure a rehabilitation programme for a couple of week below the supervision of flight surgeons to adapt again to earth’s gravity.