 "Shubhanshu to land at 3 pm, Axiom-4 splashdown expected off California coast")
Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and his Axiom-4 crew are expected to splashdown off the coast of California at 3 pm on Tuesday, a day after their Dragon (Grace) capsule undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) and began its journey towards Earth.
The homebound Ax-4 crew completed more than 310 orbits, covering a total distance of 1.3 crore kilometres, which is approximately 33 times more than the distance between Earth and the Moon.
“Dragon and the Ax-4 crew are on track to reenter Earth’s atmosphere and splash down off the coast of San Diego at ~2:31 a.m. PT tomorrow. Dragon will also announce its arrival with a brief sonic boom prior to splashing down in the Pacific Ocean,” SpaceX said in a statement.
Dragon and the @Axiom_Space Ax-4 crew are on track to reenter Earth’s atmosphere and splash down off the coast of San Diego at ~2:31 a.m. PT tomorrow.
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 15, 2025
Dragon will also announce its arrival with a brief sonic boom prior to splashing down in the Pacific Ocean pic.twitter.com/dS3KuHVWdH
Approximately 50 minutes after the de-orbit burn, Grace will deploy its drogue parachutes, followed by the main parachutes about a minute later. Once the capsule splashes down, recovery teams will approach, conduct safety checks, and secure the capsule for lifting onto the recovery ship using a hydraulic cradle.
After the capsule is safely onboard, initial medical checks will be performed on the crew. They will then be transported to land via helicopter for more comprehensive medical evaluations, mission debriefings, and recovery procedures.
What did Shukla do in space?
Here’s what the Shukla did during his stay at the ISS for 21 days:
Research on Life Sciences Glovebox (LSG) to unravel the biological pathways behind skeletal muscle degradation in space. Meanwhile, Commander Peggy Whitson worked on the Cancer in LEO-3 investigation and Tibor Kapu conducted experiments on plant biology
The crew together looked at how blood circulates in the brain under microgravity conditions
Shukla and the crew gathered data for the Neuro Motion VR project by wearing virtual reality headsets and completing attention-focused tasks. Throughout the sessions, their brain activity was monitored using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS).
The Indian astronaut also conducted the space microalgae experiment, where he sampled and captured images of algae strains
The crew participated in an experiment for the PhotonGrav project, which is focused on developing a brain-computer interface. Using a specialised headset that monitors blood flow to indirectly assess neural activity, the project aims to track brain signals and explore the potential for humans to control computer systems using only their thoughts
Refresh for updates
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
