Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and his Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) crew members who departed from the orbiting laboratory on Tuesday (July 14, 2025) onboard the SpaceX Dragon are on track to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere and splash down off the coast of San Diego at 3.01 p.m. IST (2:31 a.m. P.T).
The Elon Musk-founded aerospace firm mentioned that the Dragon may even announce its arrival with a short sonic increase prior to splashing down within the Pacific Ocean.
“Dragon and the @Axiom_Space Ax-4 crew are on track to reenter Earth’s atmosphere and splash down off the coast of San Diego at ~2:31 a.m. PT tomorrow. Dragon will also announce its arrival with a brief sonic boom prior to splashing down in the Pacific Ocean,” SpaceX posted.
After spending 18 days on the International Space Station (ISS), Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and Ax-4 crew members departed from the orbiting laboratory on July 14, 2025. The journey again to Earth would take about 22.5 hours.
Following a collection of orbital manoeuvres after undocking, Dragon is predicted to splashdown at roughly 3.01 p.m. (IST) on Tuesday (July 15, 2025).
“After performing a series of departure burns to move away from the space station, Dragon will conduct multiple orbit-lowering manoeuvres, jettison the trunk, and re-enter Earth’s atmosphere for splashdown off the coast of California 22.5 hours later at approximately 3.01 p.m. (IST) 2:31 a.m. PT on Tuesday, July 15,” SpaceX had earlier mentioned.
While Group Captain Shukla is the pilot for the Ax-4 mission the opposite crew members are Commander Peggy Whitson of the U.S., Mission Specialist Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland, and Mission Specialist Tibor Kapu of Hungary.
The 4 astronauts flew to the house station on the Dragon after it was launched by the Falcon 9 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida June 25, 2025.
The Ax-4 analysis complement consists of round 60 scientific research and actions representing 31 nations, together with the U.S., India, Poland, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Nigeria, UAE, and nations throughout Europe.
The Dragon spacecraft is now returning with greater than 580 kilos of cargo, together with NASA {hardware} and knowledge from over 60 experiments carried out throughout the mission.
