Washington/New Delhi: Washington/New Delhi: Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and his fellow Axiom-4 crewmembers are scheduled to begin their return journey to Earth on July 14, NASA has officially confirmed.
Their spacecraft is set to undock from the International Space Station (ISS) that day, with a splashdown expected at 4:35 PM IST in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California.
Shukla, who made history as the first Indian to visit the ISS and only the second Indian in space after Rakesh Sharma (1984), launched aboard the Axiom-4 mission (Mission Akash Ganga) on June 26.
Originally planned as a 14-day mission, it has now been extended to 18 days.
NASA’s Commercial Crew Program Manager, Steve Stitch, explained during a press briefing that the Axiom-4 crew needs to undock before the Crew-11 mission arrives later this month. The Crew-11 team, bound for a long-term science mission at the ISS, is set to launch on July 31, and their arrival requires available docking space.
One of the most unforgettable evenings I’ve experienced on this mission was sharing a meal with new friends, Ax-4, aboard the International @Space_Station.
We swapped stories and marveled at how people from diverse backgrounds and nations came together to represent humanity in… pic.twitter.com/hdzXxrwLaV
— Jonny Kim (@JonnyKimUSA) July 10, 2025
Importantly, the July 14 target was chosen as it falls just after the “high beta period”—a time when the ISS receives continuous sunlight, heating up onboard systems and complicating docking or undocking operations. During this period, which typically peaks around the summer solstice (June 21) and lasts about two weeks, such maneuvers are generally avoided.
A Historic Mission
Group Captain Shukla’s time aboard the ISS was marked by the successful execution of eight advanced scientific experiments, conducted in collaboration with prestigious Indian institutions like IISc Bengaluru, National Institute of Plant Genome Research, and the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad. The studies explored muscle regeneration, cyanobacteria behavior, and sprout cultivation in space.
Shukla was joined on the Axiom-4 mission by veteran NASA astronaut Dr. Peggy Whitson, Slawosz Uznanski-Wiśniewski from Poland, and Tibor Kapu of Hungary. Their journey marks the first spaceflight in over four decades for astronauts from India, Poland, and Hungary.
Seen as a precursor to India’s Gaganyaan human spaceflight program, the success of the Axiom-4 mission underscores India’s growing role in global space exploration and research.
