New Delhi, July 15 (IANS) As Indian astronaut and IAF Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla on Tuesday returned to Earth after a historic mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS), his family back home was overwhelmed with a mix of emotion including excitement, nervousness and pride.
The home of Group Captain Shukla in Lucknow was filled with emotion, pride, and celebration on Tuesday as news came in of his safe return from the ISS.
Shukla, who is the first Indian astronaut to visit the ISS, successfully splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast at 3:00 PM IST, completing Axiom Space’s historic Axiom-4 (Ax-4) mission.
After the successful landing, Shukla’s family members shared their heartfelt emotions.
Speaking to IANS, his mother, Asha Shukla, shared her feelings, saying: “The excitement must be visible on our faces. We’re extremely eager and overwhelmed with emotion, knowing that our son has finally returned to Earth today. I want to thank everyone for this. It’s very emotional to see my son after so many days. Our excitement is endless — we are very proud.”
His sister, Shuchi Mishra, added: “Honestly, I couldn’t sleep last night; there was just so much excitement. I have butterflies in my stomach right now. I want to thank everyone. We were waiting for this moment. He has finally come back. We are so happy.”
His father, Shambhu Dayal Shukla, also shared the family’s anticipation: “I want to thank God that he has finally landed back on Earth. I also want to thank everyone who has given their blessings to our child. He has returned from a place from where there was little chance of coming back.”
Meanwhile, Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, who scripted history by becoming the first from the country to reach the International Space Station, returned safely back home.
SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft 'Grace' carrying IAF Group Captain Shukla and three other astronauts, part of the Axiom Space Mission-4 (Ax-4) splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California at 3:01 P.M. IST (4:31 AM CT).
"Splashdown of Dragon confirmed – welcome back to Earth, AstroPeggy, Shux, astro_slawosz, and Tibi!" SpaceX said in a post on social media platform X.
Shukla, along with fellow astronauts Peggy Whitson (US), Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski (Poland), and Tibor Kapu (Hungary), boarded SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft 'Grace' at 3:30 A.M. CT (2 PM IST) on Monday. Shukla flew to the ISS on June 26. He also became the second Indian astronaut to travel to space after Rakesh Sharma's 1984 odyssey.
The 18-minute-long de-orbit burn took place over the Pacific Ocean as the spacecraft re-entered the Earth's atmosphere. The astronauts also had a blackout period, where the spacecraft lost communication signals for about seven minutes.
Final preparations included detaching the capsule's trunk and orienting the heat shield ahead of atmospheric entry, which exposed the spacecraft to temperatures approaching 1,600 degrees Celsius.
Parachutes deployed in two stages -- first stabilising chutes at about 5.7 km altitude at 2:57 P.M. IST, followed by the main parachutes at roughly two km before splashdown.
Shukla, India's first astronaut to live and work aboard the ISS, returned after concluding an 18-day stay at the orbiting laboratory, along with his Axiom-4 crew.
--IANS
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