Shubhanshu Shukla, Axiom-4 crew return to Earth as Dragon splashes down off California

Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and three other crew members of the commercial Axiom-4 mission returned to Earth on Tuesday as their Dragon spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, California, after an 18-day stay at the International Space Station (ISS).

The spacecraft made a fiery re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere before its parachutes deployed in two stages ahead of splash down.

The stabilising chutes opened at an altitude of around 5.7 km at 2:57 pm IST, followed by the main parachutes at roughly two km, slowing down the capsule for a safe landing.

The Dragon ‘Grace’ capsule carrying Shukla, commander Peggy Whitson, and mission specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary undocked from the ISS at 4:45 pm IST on Monday.

"Splashdown of Dragon confirmed - welcome back to Earth, @AstroPeggy, Shux, @astro_slawosz, and Tibi," SpaceX said in a post on X.

Speed boats of SpaceX, the transporter for the mission, were seen moving towards the spacecraft to bring it to recovery ship Shannon where the astronauts will brought out from the capsule.

The four astronauts will undergo a series of medical checks onboard the ship before being flown back to shore by helicopter. They are expected to spend seven days in rehabilitation as they readjust to gravity after nearly three weeks of weightlessness in orbit.

Shukla became only the second Indian to travel to space after Rakesh Sharma’s 1984 odyssey and the first Indian to visit the ISS.

On Sunday, he recalled how Sharma had described India from space 41 years ago and shared his own reflections.

ISRO paid around ₹550 crore for Shukla’s travel to the ISS, an experience that is expected to aid in planning its human spaceflight programme, Gaganyaan, set for launch in 2027.