Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, who returned to Earth after an 18-day stay aboard the International Space Station as part of Axiom-4 mission, will return home by August 17 following a list of post-mission procedures, Union minister Jitendra Singh told the media on Tuesday.
The Minister of Science and Technology said that there are certain standard operating procedures (SOPs) in the rehabilitation, debriefing sessions and a series of discussions with an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) team.
SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft carrying the Axiom-4 crew splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the San Diego coast on Tuesday at 3.01 pm (IST).
Shukla conducted seven microgravity experiments, among other tasks, in the orbital laboratory. These included research on Indian strain of Tardigrades, Myogenesis, Sprouting of methi and moong seeds, Cyanobacteria, Microalgae, Crop seeds, and the Voyager Display.
Singh said that these experiments will be vital not just for Indians but for all of humanity.
With this mission Shukla became the second Indian national to travel to space after Rakesh Sharma’s 1984 mission and the first to step into the ISS. He spent 20 days in orbit, making his stay in space the longest for an Indian astronaut.
(With PTI inputs)
