Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian to visit the International Space Station (ISS), is set to return to Earth on July 15 following the conclusion of the 18-day Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4). He will undergo a seven-day rehabilitation programme post-splashdown off the California coast to readjust to Earth's gravity, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) informed.

Shukla, who served as pilot for the mission, travelled aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft along with mission commander Peggy Whitson (NASA), and mission specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski (Poland) and Tibor Kapu (Hungary), as part of the commercial Ax-4 mission launched on June 25 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

The quartet is scheduled to undock from ISS on July 14, at 4.30 pm Indian IST, with live coverage beginning on NASA+, followed by streams from Axiom Space and SpaceX. Hatch closing will precede undocking, with the crew expected to enter the spacecraft at 2.25 pm IST. Following a series of deorbit manoeuvres, splashdown is expected around 3 pm IST on July 15.