ISRO Hails Microgravity Milestone As Shubhanshu Shukla Readies For ISS Splashdown

SpaceX announced that the Dragon spacecraft, carrying IAF Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and three fellow astronauts from the Axiom Space Mission-4 (Ax-4), will likely reenter Earth’s atmosphere and make its splashdown on Tuesday.

Shukla, alongside Peggy Whitson (US), Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski (Poland), and Tibor Kapu (Hungary), boarded SpaceX’s Dragon capsule ‘Grace’ at 3:30 AM CT (2 PM IST) on Monday.

Splashdown Location and Timing

Following their time aboard the International Space Station (ISS), the Ax-4 crew will likely splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast at 3:01 PM IST (4:31 AM CT).

Taking to X, SpaceX posted, “Dragon and the Ax-4 crew are on track to reenter Earth’s atmosphere and splash down off the coast of San Diego.”

“Dragon will also announce its arrival with a brief sonic boom prior to splashing down in the Pacific Ocean,” SpaceX added.

The de-orbit burn, which initiates the descent, is at 2:07 PM IST over the Pacific.

Final steps before atmospheric re-entry include trunk separation at 2:26 PM IST and positioning the heat shield forward, ready to withstand temperatures up to 1,600°C.

Parachute deployment will occur in two stages: stabilising chutes at around 5.7 km altitude at 2:57 PM IST, followed by main parachutes at roughly 2 km before splashdown.

During his 18-day stay aboard the orbital lab, Shukla completed over 310 orbits, covering approximately 1.3 crore kilometres—equivalent to circling the Earth-Moon distance 33 times.

The crew also observed over 300 sunrises and sunsets from space.

On Monday, ISRO announced that Shukla successfully completed all seven planned microgravity experiments, calling it a ‘milestone in the mission’.

“Experiments on Indian strain of tardigrades, myogenesis, sprouting of methi and moong seeds, cyanobacteria, microalgae, crop seeds, and voyager display have been completed as planned,” the agency noted.

Also Read: India’s First ISS Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla Set To Return After Historic 18-Day Mission