India\u2019s first astronaut to the International Space Station, Shubhanshu Shukla, is set to return to Earth on Monday as part of the Axiom-4 (Ax-4) mission. A formal farewell for the Axiom-4 crew is planned for Sunday evening (India time), just ahead of their scheduled undocking. Axiom Space confirmed the ceremony will be streamed live at 8:55 am CT (7:25 pm IST) on Sunday, before the crew begins their journey back from the ISS.<\/p>\n
Who were the members of the Axiom-4 mission?<\/strong><\/p>\n The Axiom-4 mission included four astronauts: Commander Peggy Whitson, Pilot Shubhanshu \u201cShux\u201d Shukla, and Mission Specialists Slawosz \u201cSuave\u201d Uznanski-Wisniewski and Tibor Kapu. The mission lasted 18 days, and the splashdown is expected off the coast of California on Monday.<\/p>\n NASA will provide live coverage of their departure, scheduled for no earlier than 7:05 am ET (4:35 pm IST) on Monday. At present, the ISS is hosting 11 astronauts, including the seven members of Expedition 73 and the four from Axiom-4.<\/p>\n Special dinner before departure<\/strong><\/p>\n Before wrapping up their mission, the astronauts on board the ISS came together for a shared meal, featuring cuisine from all six nations represented on the station. \u201cOne of the most unforgettable evenings I\u2019ve experienced on this mission was sharing a meal with new friends, Axiom-4, aboard the International @Space_Station,\u201d said US astronaut Jonny Kim in a post on X.<\/p>\n The appetisers included rehydrated shrimp cocktails and crackers, while the main course featured chicken and beef fajitas. Dessert was a sweet bread cake with condensed milk and walnuts. Shukla added a taste of India to the table by bringing aam ras and gajar halwa, while Poland\u2019s Slawosz Uznanski served up traditional pierogi with cabbage and mushrooms.<\/p>\n What happens after splashdown?<\/strong><\/p>\n After landing, Shukla will undergo a seven-day rehabilitation programme to help his body adjust to Earth\u2019s gravity again. According to ISRO, he and the rest of the crew will board the return spacecraft around 2:25 pm IST, put on their space suits, and complete safety checks before undocking.<\/p>\n Cost of India\u2019s space debut to ISS<\/strong><\/p>\n Shukla\u2019s journey to the ISS was made possible after ISRO paid approximately \u20b9550 crore, according to a report by PTI. His experience is expected to directly support India\u2019s upcoming Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission, which aims for launch in 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"India\u2019s first astronaut to the International Space Station, Shubhanshu Shukla, is set to return to Earth on Monday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3844],"tags":[19069,100200,70,413,16,15,100201],"class_list":{"0":"post-261920","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-axiom-4","9":"tag-axiom-4-splashdown","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-space","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-where-to-watch-axiom-4-splashdown"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114846691734831986","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}