Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla is set to return to Earth after spending nearly 18 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Axiom-4 (Ax-4) mission. Accompanying him on this journey back are Commander Peggy Whitson, Slawosz 'Suave' Uznanski-Wisniewski, and Tibor Kapu. According to NASA, the process of departure will begin with the closing of the spacecraft’s hatch at 2:00 pm IST on Monday. The crew is expected to board the Dragon spacecraft by 2:25 pm IST, with undocking preparations starting around 4:15 pm IST. The actual undocking is scheduled to occur at approximately 4:30 pm IST.

Following their separation from the ISS, the crew’s journey back to Earth is estimated to take about 22 hours. Union Minister Jitendra Singh stated on social media that the splashdown is expected to take place around 3:00 pm IST on July 15, with an allowance of about an hour either side of the projected time. The capsule is planned to land in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, utilizing parachutes in a water-landing—a standard recovery technique used by the United States for such missions.

NASA has announced that it will broadcast live coverage of the undocking through NASA+, which will continue for about 30 minutes after the event. Axiom Space will take over the broadcast to cover the Dragon capsule’s re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere and its eventual splashdown. During his time in space, Shukla participated in a range of scientific and outreach activities. Among his tasks, he handled microalgae samples by centrifuging and freezing them—part of ongoing research into how life might be sustained beyond Earth. He also engaged in a microgravity farming experiment, planting moong and methi seeds in orbit to study how plants grow and germinate in space conditions.

At a farewell event aboard the ISS, Shukla delivered a heartfelt speech, reflecting on his time in orbit and expressing pride in India’s progress. Referring to Rakesh Sharma’s historic quote from 1984, Shukla offered a modern perspective, saying that today’s India appears ambitious, fearless, confident, and full of pride when viewed from space. He concluded by saying that, for all these reasons, “Aaj ka Bharat abhi bhi saare jahaan se achha dikhta hai,” meaning “Today’s India still looks better than the entire world.” Shukla also thanked ISRO, NASA, Axiom Space, SpaceX, and international collaborators for making the mission possible. According to NASA, the returning Dragon capsule will carry back over 580 pounds of cargo, including NASA equipment and data from more than 60 scientific experiments. The Ax-4 mission was launched on June 25 via a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and docked with the ISS on June 26.