After nearly 20 days in space, the Axiom-4 mission team boarded SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, Grace, for their return to Earth. Having closed the hatch and undocked from the International Space Station (ISS), the crew began their journey home. This historic mission is led by Indian Air Force Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, who is piloting the spacecraft.
The Dragon Grace spacecraft will return to Earth’s atmosphere and land in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast around 3 pm IST on Tuesday, July 15, after a journey of about 22.5 hours.
Pleasure To Spend Time: ISS Commander Takuya Onishi
At a send-off ceremony before departure, ISS Commander Takuya Onishi praised the Axe-4 crew, said “Peggy, Shaks, Suvav and Tibor – it was a pleasure to spend time with you. The positive energy, inspiration and scientific dedication you have shown is a new example for private space missions. We hope you will have an unforgettable experience.”
To this, Commander Peggy Whitson replied, “We made every moment here. It was an amazing experience. Working with people who have now become our friends was very special for us. The teamwork and learning from each other were amazing.”
Shukla’s Emotional Message From ISS
Earlier on Sunday, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla gave an emotional message from the ISS, repeating the famous lines of India’s first astronaut Rakesh Sharma in a new way: “Today’s India still looks good in the whole world.” The Ax-4 crew includes – Mission Commander Peggy Whitson, ISRO pilot Shubhanshu Shukla, ESA’s Polish project astronaut Slawosz “Swaw” Uznanski-Wisniewski, and Tibor Kapu from the Hungarian to Orbit (HUNOR) mission.
During this mission, all of them played an active role in many scientific and social programs on the ISS. According to NASA, the ‘Grace’ spacecraft will bring more than 263 kg of luggage on its return to Earth, which includes data from scientific experiments and some NASA equipment. This journey into space began on June 25 when SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. On June 26 at 4:05 pm Indian time, the ‘Grace’ spacecraft successfully docked with the Harmony module of the ISS ahead of schedule.
What Union Minister Said
On this occasion, Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh said that the scientific experiments conducted by Shukla will benefit countries around the world.
He said, “His undocking is scheduled at around 4:30 pm. The special thing is that Shubhanshu’s experiments – which are related to life sciences and plants – were supported by our Department of Biotechnology and premier institutions like IISc Bangalore and IIT.”
The Union Minister also said that, “The equipment and kits used in these experiments are completely indigenous, which have been developed in India. Now these experiments will be used internationally as well. These are such experiments which were never even imagined before. This initiative has been taken by India at the global level, and it has happened for the first time that experiments of Indian origin have been done by an Indian for the world.”
