New Delhi, July 11 (IANS) Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, currently on board the International Space Station, is expected to begin his journey back to Earth on July 14, said Axiom Space on Friday.

Shukla, along with three other crew members Peggy Whitson, Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, and Tibor Kapu will undock inside the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft from the Harmony module’s space-facing port for a return to Earth.

“The #Ax4 crew is scheduled to undock from the @Space_Station no earlier than Monday, July 14, at 7:05 a.m. ET (4:35 pm IST),” Axiom Space said in a post on social media platform X.

A splashdown is expected several hours after the undocking, near the coast of California in the Pacific Ocean.

“We are working with the station programme, watching the Axiom-4 progress carefully. I think we need to undock that mission, and the current target to undock is July 14,” Steve Stitch, Manager, NASA Commercial Crew Program, told a press conference.

IAF Group Captain Shukla is on a 14-day mission to the ISS. He became the first Indian to visit the ISS and the second Indian astronaut after Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, who went to space in 1984.

On the orbital post, Shukla carried out seven India-specific experiments, taking a major step in advancing India’s Gaganyaan human space flight mission. These included experiments to decode muscle loss, developing a brain-computer interface, and sprouting green gram and fenugreek seeds in space, among others.

He also interacted with students from Kerala and Lucknow via video conferencing from the ISS. The students were able to interact with Shukla for around 10 minutes and they bombarded him with questions like what astronauts eat, how one sleeps in space, and what happens if someone falls sick.

The students also sought to know about the benefits of the space programme and what part of the space visit was most enjoyable.

During the interaction, Shukla described the launch experience of the Axiom Mission 4 as “amazing” and “dynamic”.

“It is fun actually, because in space there is no floor and no ceiling. So if you were to come and visit the station (ISS), you would find someone sleeping on the walls, someone on the ceiling,” he told students.

–IANS

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