Chennai: After a brief 10-minute delay due to some final technical checks, the four member Axiom Mission-4 crew comprising Shubhanshu Shukla, who became the first Indian to travel to International Space Station (ISS), and those from US, Hungary and Poland undocked today on its return journey to death before splashing down off California coast tomorrow after a 22-23 hr duration.
NASA said the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft undocked at 7:15 a.m. EDT (4.45 PM 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 (Ax-4).
The spacecraft was earlier scheduled to be undocked at 4.35 pm IST, but it was briefly delayed by ten minutes due to final technical checks to ensure the safe return of the crew.
Dragon is slowly maneuvering away from the station into an orbital track that will return the crew and its cargo safely to Earth, targeting a splashdown off the coast of California on Tuesday, July 15.
After a nearly 22-23 hour journey, the crew will land at around 3.15 pm tomorrow.
The Dragon spacecraft is returning with more than 580 pounds of cargo, including NASA hardware and data from over 60 experiments conducted during the mission.
"The four-member Axiom Mission-4 astronaut crew undocked from the space-facing port of the station’s Harmony module aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and began their return to Earth and splashdown off the coast of California", it said.
NASA said the departure operations commenced with the hatch closing at 4:30 a.m EDT.
The 4-member crew--Peggy Whitson, former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space, ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, who piloted the mission on June 25 when it took off from Florida, ESA (European Space Agency) project astronaut S?awosz Uzna?ski-Wi?niewski of Poland, and HUNOR (Hungarian to Orbit) astronaut Tibor Kapu of Hungary, had spent about two weeks in space during their mission.
Crew entered spacecraft and it was followed by hatch closing, leading to commencement of their journey and re-entry to earth and splashdown.
A collaboration between NASA and ISRO allowed Axiom Mission 4 to deliver on a commitment highlighted by President Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to send the first ISRO astronaut to the station.
The space agencies participated in five joint science investigations and two in-orbit science, technology, engineering, and mathematics demonstrations. NASA and ISRO have a long-standing relationship built on a shared vision to advance scientific knowledge and expand space collaboration.
The private mission also carried the first astronauts from Poland and Hungary to stay aboard the space station.
The International Space Station is a springboard for developing a low Earth orbit economy. NASA’s goal is to achieve a strong economy off the Earth where the agency can purchase services as one of many customers to meet its science and research objectives in microgravity.
NASA’s commercial strategy for low Earth orbit provides the government with reliable and safe services at a lower cost, enabling the agency to focus on Artemis missions to the Moon in preparation for Mars while also continuing to use low Earth orbit as a training and proving ground for those deep space missions.
