Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, along with three other Axiom-4 mission crew members, entered the SpaceX Dragon ‘Grace’ spacecraft ahead of hatch closure and undocking from ISS on Monday. The crew will begin their return journey to space around 4:30 PM IST.
IAF’s Shubhanshu Shukla is the first Indian astronaut to visit the ISS will be piloting the spacecraft.
The hatch of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft ‘Grace’ was closed, and the indicator was aligned around 3:00 PM IST, marking the final preparations for the undocking of the Axiom-4 (Ax-4) crew from the International Space Station (ISS) after spending almost 20 days in space.
The mission will end with Dragon’s splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California on July 15, around 3:00 PM IST.
Also read: Day-to-day update of what Shubhanshu Shukla “Shux” and crew did in space
Ax-4 mission aboard Grace will take approximately 22.5 hours back to Earth followed by landing procedures by the ground teams of NASA and SpaceX.
Shubhanshu Shukla’s speech at Ax-4 farewell ceremony
“Even today, Bharat looks ‘saare jahan se accha’ from above,” Shukla said, reprising the iconic words of India’s first astronaut Rakesh Sharma, who travelled to space in 1984.
Speaking at the farewell ceremony of Axiom-4 mission at ISS, Shukla said, “We all are still curious to know how India looks today from above. Aaj ka Bharat mahatvakanshi dikhta hai. Aaj ka Bharat nidar dikhta hai, Aaj ka Bharat confident dikhta hai. Aaj ka Bharat garv se purna dikhta hai. (Today’s India looks full of ambition, fearless, confident and full of pride).”
