Shubhanshu Shukla Return Updates: Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and three others from the Axiom-4 mission made a safe landing in the ocean near San Diego on Tuesday afternoon after a 22.5-hour journey from the International Space Station, where they spent 18 days.
Following a series of orbital manoeuvres after undocking, the Dragon spacecraft splashed down near the coast of California. The astronauts began their return journey to Earth on Monday as the Dragon Grace spacecraft undocked from the ISS.
Shukla and three others, Axiom 4 (Ax-4) crew Commander Peggy Whitson, and Mission Specialists Slawosz “Suave" Uznanski-Wisniewski and Tibor Kapu embarked on the space odyssey on June 25 from Florida and docked at the ISS on June 26.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Shukla has inspired a billion dreams through his dedication, courage and pioneering spirit.
“I join the nation in welcoming Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla as he returns to Earth from his historic mission to Space. As India’s first astronaut to have visited International Space Station, he has inspired a billion dreams through his dedication, courage and pioneering spirit. It marks another milestone towards our own Human Space Flight Mission – Gaganyaan," PM Modi wrote in a post on X.
Who Is Shubhanshu Shukla?
Born in Lucknow in 1985, Shubhanshu Shukla completed his schooling in the capital of Uttar Pradesh. He later graduated from the National Defence Academy and was commissioned into the Indian Air Force in 2006. With over 2,000 hours of flying experience on top combat aircraft, he was selected in 2019 for India’s Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme and was eventually chosen as the pilot for the Axiom-4 (Ax-4) mission.
With this space trip, Shukla became the first Indian to travel to the ISS and only the second to travel to space after Rakesh Sharma’s pathbreaking spaceflight as part of the then Soviet Union’s mission to Salyut-7 space station in 1984.
What Shubhanshu Shukla Did On ISS?
Shubhanshu Shukla completed all seven microgravity experiments and other planned activities, achieving a significant milestone in the Axiom-4 mission, ISRO said on Monday. It said that experiments on the Indian strain of Tardigrades, Myogenesis, Sprouting of methi and moong seeds, Cyanobacteria, Microalgae, Crop seeds and Voyager Display have been completed as planned.
Source: News18