NEW DELHI, July 15: Waving and smiling to cameras, Shubhanshu Shukla and three other Axiom-4 mission astronauts emerged from the Dragon Grace spacecraft on Tuesday, taking their first breath of fresh air after completing their 20-day space sojourn.
The 39-year-old Shukla, commander Peggy Whitson and mission specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary were seen being helped out of the spacecraft by the ground staff of SpaceX, the transporter for the mission.
The Dragon spacecraft splashed down off the San Diego coast in southern California at 3:01 PM IST, capping a 20-day space travel of which 18 days were spent at the International Space Station.
Soon after the splashdown, the spacecraft was hauled up the recovery ship Shannon, where the Axiom-4 crew members came out on a small slide and were helped onto their feet by the ground staff.
Shukla and the three astronauts were seen taking tentative steps as they adjusted to gravity back on Earth after spending three weeks in weightlessness on board the space station.
The four astronauts are expected to spend seven days in rehabilitation as they adjust back to life on Earth under the influence of gravity, unlike the weightlessness experienced in orbit.
Shukla’s space odyssey has set the stage for achieving India’s own ambitions of human spaceflight — Gaganyaan — and building the Bharat Antariksha Station soon after.
India plans to undertake human spaceflight — Gaganyaan — in 2027 on a home-built rocket and a crew capsule that is at an advanced stage of preparedness.
While the Gaganyaan mission is set for a 2027 lift-off, the first module of the Bharat Antariksha Station is expected to be launched in 2028, with a full-fledged orbital lab taking shape by 2035.
“This mission marks a defining chapter in India’s journey into human spaceflight and is not just a step forward, it is a giant leap in translating ambition into capability,” said Somak Raychaudhury, Astrophysicist and Vice Chancellor, Ashoka University.
He said the range of experiments conducted aboard the ISS opened new frontiers for India’s scientific community, from space agriculture and materials science to health and AI.
“These insights will be vital as we prepare for missions like Gaganyaan in 2027, an Indian space station by 2035 and a planned human Moon landing by 2040,” Raychaudhury said.
The Axiom-4 crew conducted 60 scientific experiments during their stay, including seven designed by ISRO along with Indian research institutions and universities.
ISRO said the Ax-04 mission will provide valuable inputs for the upcoming Gaganyaan mission and offer hands-on experience in the nuances of international crew integration, medical and psychological preparation, real-time health telemetry, experiment execution and crew-ground coordination.
It said these insights will directly influence mission planning, safety validation and astronaut readiness for India’s first indigenous human spaceflight mission.
Indian Space Association Director General Lt Gen AK Bhatt (retd) said the achievement is a stepping stone for India’s future crewed space journeys, including the Gaganyaan mission and the ambitious goal of landing an Indian on the Moon by 2040 in an Indian spacecraft. (PTI)
