“Lifted India’s aspirations to new heights”: Rajnath Singh on Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla’s successful return to Earth

New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Tuesday that Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla’s successful return from the historic Axiom-4 mission is a proud moment for every Indian and lifted the country’s aspirations to new heights.
“Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla’s successful return from the historic Axiom-4 mission is a proud moment for every Indian. He has not just touched space, he has lifted India’s aspirations to new heights. His journey to the International Space Station and back is not just a personal milestone, it is a proud stride for India’s growing space ambitions. Wishing him great success in his future endeavours,” the Defence Minister wrote in a post on X.

SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft ‘Grace’ successfully landed in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California on Tuesday, marking the safe return of the Axiom-4 (Ax-4) crew, including pilot Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian to visit the International Space Station (ISS).

The splashdown, confirmed by SpaceX, concludes a nearly 19-day mission aboard the ISS, fulfilling a significant milestone in Indo-US space cooperation. “Splashdown of Dragon confirmed – welcome back to Earth, @AstroPeggy, Shux, @astro_slawosz, and Tibi!” SpaceX said in a post on X.

Earlier, SpaceX stated that it was set for a splashdown on Earth off the coast of California, as the nosecone of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft ‘Grace’ has been closed and secured for reentry.

SpaceX made the announcement of the mission in a post on X, as the mission marks the final stages of the crew’s return from the International Space Station (ISS) after almost 20 days in space.

The re-entry was done following the completion of the deorbit burn and the jettisoning of the trunk, as confirmed by SpaceX.
“Dragon’s nosecone is closed and secured for reentry. Splashdown in ~26 minutes,” SpaceX stated in a post on X.
“Dragon’s deorbit burn is complete and the trunk has been jettisoned,” stated another post.

The crew returned to earth in approximately 22.5 hours from the ISS. Earlier, on Monday, the Ax-4 successfully undocked and was making their way back to Earth, as observed by Axiom Space and NASA.

In an informative blog about mission updates, NASA announced that the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft undocked at 7:15 a.m. EDT (4:45 p.m. IST) from the space-facing port of the International Space Station’s Harmony module, completing the fourth private astronaut mission to the orbiting laboratory, Axiom Mission 4.

Axiom Space, in its live session on X, noted that the Axiom-4 mission saw over 60 scientific studies and more than 20 outreach events.

The Ax-4 crew, comprising Commander Peggy Whitson, Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), European Space Agency (ESA) project astronaut Slawosz “Suave” Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland, and Hungarian to Orbit (HUNOR) astronaut Tibor Kapu, had been actively engaged in research and outreach activities aboard the ISS as part of the mission during the past 18 days.

As per NASA, the Dragon spacecraft returns to Earth with more than 580 pounds of cargo, including NASA hardware and data from over 60 experiments conducted during the mission.

Axiom Mission 4 was launched on June 25 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. The Dragon spacecraft successfully docked with the ISS on June 26 at 4:05 pm IST, ahead of schedule, connecting to the space-facing port of the station’s Harmony module.