Shubhanshu Shukla smiles, waves as he exits SpaceX Dragon capsule after return to Earth from ISS

Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla has taken a trip between the Earth after spending 18 days on the International Space Station (ISS), in SpaceX Dragon capsule that has splashed down in California on Tuesday. When he came out of the capsule he was waving and smiling.

The 39 year old Group Captain Shukla, an Indian Air Force officer and a test pilot flew his first tour in space under the Axiom-4 mission, a commercially led spaceflight that was backed by the ISRO and NASA, and conducted by Axiom Space.

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The mission was a history moment in India as this is the first Indian to board the ISS and the second Indian in the history to go into space after Rakesh Sharma, who made a legendary space voyage back in 1984.

Aboard ISS Shukla served as the pilot of the Axiom-4 mission, with the mission commander Peggy Whitsom and mission specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Hungary, Tibor Kapu. They did not only practice science experiments collectively but also did outreach work to students and space communities worldwide.

Shukla performed seven microgravity experiments within a wide sphere of life science, agriculture, space biotechnology and cognitive experiments, led by India.

Journey to Earth

On about 2:30 a.m. PDT (0930 GMT), a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule sporting the four-member team landed by parachute into the sea off the coast of California after a blistering reentry through the atmosphere that marked the end of a 22-hour dive out of orbit.

The fourth ISS mission which was arranged by the Texas-organised startup Axiom Space with SpaceX, the personal rockets project of billionaire Elon Musk, based near Los Angeles ended with the flight back to Earth.

SpaceX-Axiom joint webcast broadcast the mission finale, the return flight live.

After re-entering the atmosphere, two pairs of braking parachutes that could be seen through the darkness by infrared cameras, were supposed to reduce the capsule to about 15 mph (24 kph) just before landing off San Diego by splashing into the water.

A few minutes ago the space craft had been burning like a mechanical meteor through the lower atmosphere of the earth, developing frictional heat enough to raise the temperature outside the capsule to 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,927 degrees Celsius). The flight clothing the astronauts wear has a cooling mechanism so as to ensure that they do not deteriorate when the cabin becomes very hot.

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Shukla is welcomed back by his family, who make a cake to celebrate it.

The fact that Shukla came back was a really emotional scene to his family, and they had a cake that they cut.

Asha Shukla, the mother of the astronaut, was very proud and ecstatic with the success of her son. She admitted that she entertained early apprehensions but suggested the people to pick up inspiration.

“Excitement is endless, and we are very proud. We were afraid at first... The upcoming generation should take inspiration and move ahead as well,” Asha Shukla told ANI.

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