Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla prepares to move again house

Forward of his journey again to Earth, Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla on Sunday (July 13, 2025) stated that right this moment’s India appears to be like formidable, fearless, assured, and filled with pleasure.

“Forty-one years in the past, an Indian went to area, and he additionally described how India appears to be like from above, and also you all need to understand how India appears to be like from right here. Let me let you know, right this moment’s India from area appears to be like formidable, fearless, assured, and filled with pleasure. Due to these causes, I’m telling you once more, ‘Aaj ka Bharat abhi bi sare jahan se acha dikhta hai’ (right this moment’s India nonetheless appears to be like the most effective on the earth). Let’s meet on Earth quickly,” Group Captain Shukla, stated at a farewell ceremony on the Worldwide House Station (ISS).

It had been an unbelievable journey for him on the ISS, he stated. “My journey [to the ISS] goes to recover from. However your and my journey continues to be on; the journey of our human area mission is a protracted and in addition tough one. However I can guarantee that if we’re decided, even stars are attainable,” Group Captain Shukla stated.

Thanking fellow astronauts on the ISS, he stated that they had made his and the Axiom Mission 4 (Ax‑4) crew members’ keep particular.

“For the final two-and-a-half weeks, we have now completed quite a lot of science within the station, [and] outreach actions, and appeared again on the Earth after we discovered time. It virtually appears magical to me. These missions have very far-reaching implications past science and that’s what I imagine. Again from right here, I carry with me quite a lot of recollections, however one factor that actually sticks to me is what humanity is able to when all of us come collectively from completely different elements of the world and work for a typical objective,” Group Captain Shukla stated.

After two-and-a-half weeks on the ISS, the Indian astronaut shall be embarking on this journey again to Earth on Monday (July 14, 2025).

Group Captain Shukla, pilot of the Ax-4 mission, together with three different crew members, is scheduled to undock from the forward-facing port of the station’s Concord module at 4.35 p.m. IST (7.05 a.m. ET).

The Ax-4 crew will start their journey house aboard SpaceX Dragon, with a splashdown off the coast of California.

The journey again to Earth would take about 22.5 hours. Following a sequence of orbital manoeuvres after undocking, the Dragon is predicted to splashdown at 3 p.m. (IST) on Tuesday (July 15, 2025).

“After performing a sequence of departure burns to maneuver away from the area station, Dragon will conduct a number of orbit-lowering manoeuvres, jettison the trunk, and re-enter Earth’s environment for splashdown off the coast of California 22.5 hours later,” SpaceX stated.

Group Captain Shukla, who turned the primary Indian astronaut to go to the ISS, and the primary Indian to succeed in area within the final 41 years, was to spend as much as 14 days on the ISS. Nonetheless, his keep obtained prolonged by a number of days.

Throughout his keep on the orbiting laboratory, he performed a number of microgravity analysis experiments proposed by Indians from nationwide R&D laboratories and tutorial establishments.

He additionally spoke with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and had a few interactions with the scholar neighborhood again house by way of ham radio.

The Ax-4 analysis complement contains round 60 scientific research and actions representing 31 international locations, together with the U.S., India, Poland, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Nigeria, the UAE, and nations throughout Europe.

After splashdown, Group Captain Shukla will bear a rehabilitation programme for a couple of week, below the supervision of flight surgeons, with the intention to adapt again to Earth’s gravity.

Revealed – July 13, 2025 10:09 pm IST