Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and three others of the commercial Axiom-4 mission are due to return home with a splash down off San Diego in California on Tuesday, at the end of a 22.5-hour ride following an 18-day sojourn aboard the International Space Station.
The Dragon 'Grace' spacecraft with Shukla, commander Peggy Whitson, and mission specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary, undocked from the space station on Monday at 4:45 pm IST.
"Dragon and the @Axiom_Space Ax-4 crew are set to enter Earth's atmosphere and splash down off San Diego at ~2:31 am PT tomorrow (3:01 pm IST, Tuesday)," said SpaceX, the Axiom-4 mission transporter, in an X post.
It added that the spacecraft will also signal its arrival with a short sonic boom before splashing in the Pacific Ocean.
The de-orbit burn will occur at 2:07 pm IST over the Pacific Ocean when the spacecraft is re-entering the atmosphere of the Earth.
Preparations culminate with the detachment of the capsule's trunk (at 2:26 pm IST) and aligning the heat shield in front of atmospheric entry, which will subject the spacecraft to temperatures of about 1,600 degrees Celsius.
Also read: Dragon undocks from ISS, Shubhanshu Shukla begins return journey
Parachutes will open in two phases— initial stabilising parachutes at around 5.7 km altitude at 2:57 pm IST, followed by the main parachutes at around two km prior to splash down.
Spacecraft will be towed up to a special recovery vessel where the astronauts will be brought out from the capsule.
The crew of Axiom-4 will be subjected to a series of medical tests on the ship before embarking on a helicopter ride back to the shore.
The four astronauts will stay in rehabilitation for seven days as they readjust to living on Earth under the pull of gravity, as compared to the lack of it in space. After hugs and handshakes, the four astronauts climbed aboard the Dragon spacecraft on Monday, buckled into spacesuits and closed the hatch from the spacecraft to the ISS at 2:37 pm IST.
"Jaldi hi dharti pe mulaqat karte hai (we will meet on Earth soon)," Shukla, who has become the second Indian astronaut to journey to space after Rakesh Sharma's 1984 adventure, commented at Sunday's farewell ceremony onboard the ISS.
The Axiom-4 mission was a return to space for India, Poland and Hungary after more than four decades.
Shukla, on Sunday, remembered the day when his idol Rakesh Sharma had gone to space 41 years ago and explained how India appeared from there.
"We all are still curious to know how India looks today from above. Aaj ka Bharat mahatvakanshi dikhta hai. Aaj ka Bharat nidar dikhta hai, Aaj ka Bharat confident dikhta hai. Aaj ka Bharat garv se purn dikhta hai. (Today's India looks full of ambition, fearless, confident and full of pride)," Shukla said.
"It is due to all these reasons, I am able to say it again that the present-day India still appears 'saare jahan se accha'," he added.
"I never thought I would have all of this when I embarked on the Falcon-9 on June 25. I believe it has been awesome due to the individuals involved. Individuals standing behind me (the Expedition 73 crew) have made it really special for us. It was an amazing joy to be here and work with professionals like you," Shukla added.
It has been a historic voyage for Shukla, who is the first Indian to have visited the ISS and just the second to have gone to space following Sharma's trailblasing spaceflight on board the then Soviet Union's mission to Salyut-7 space station in 1984.
ISRO paid around Rs 550 crore for Shukla's trip to the ISS, which will benefit the space agency in planning and conducting its human spaceflight programme, Gaganyaan, that will go to orbit in 2027.
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