Ahead of his journey back to Earth, Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla on Sunday (July 13, 2025) said that today’s India looks ambitious, fearless, confident, and full of pride.

“Forty-one years ago, an Indian went to space, and he also described how India looks from above, and you all want to know how India looks from here. Let me tell you, today’s India from space looks ambitious, fearless, confident, and full of pride. Because of these reasons, I am telling you again, ‘Aaj ka Bharat abhi bi sare jahan se acha dikhta hai’ (today’s India still looks the best in the world). Let’s meet on Earth soon,” Group Captain Shukla, said at a farewell ceremony on the International Space Station (ISS).

It had been an incredible journey for him at the ISS, he said. “My journey [to the ISS] is going to get over. But your and my journey is still on; the journey of our human space mission is a long and also difficult one. But I can assure that if we are determined, even stars are attainable,” Group Captain Shukla said.

Thanking fellow astronauts at the ISS, he said they had made his and the Axiom Mission 4 (Ax‑4) crew members’ stay special.

“For the last two-and-a-half weeks, we have done a lot of science in the station, [and] outreach activities, and looked back at the Earth when we found time. It almost seems magical to me. These missions have very far-reaching implications beyond science and that is what I believe. Back from here, I carry with me a lot of memories, but one thing that really sticks to me is what humanity is capable of when all of us come together from different parts of the world and work for a common goal,” Group Captain Shukla said.

After two-and-a-half weeks at the ISS, the Indian astronaut will be embarking on this journey back to Earth on Monday (July 14, 2025).

Group Captain Shukla, pilot of the Ax-4 mission, along with three other crew members, is scheduled to undock from the forward-facing port of the station’s Harmony module at 4.35 p.m. IST (7.05 a.m. ET).

The Ax-4 crew will begin their journey home aboard SpaceX Dragon, with a splashdown off the coast of California.

The journey back to Earth would take about 22.5 hours. Following a series of orbital manoeuvres after undocking, the Dragon is expected to splashdown at 3 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,” SpaceX said.

Group Captain Shukla, who became the first Indian astronaut to go to the ISS, and the first Indian to reach space in the last 41 years, was to spend up to 14 days at the ISS. However, his stay got extended by a few days.

During his stay at the orbiting laboratory, he conducted several microgravity research experiments proposed by Indians from national R&D laboratories and academic institutions.

He also spoke with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and had a couple of interactions with the student community back home via ham radio.

The Ax-4 research complement includes around 60 scientific studies and activities representing 31 countries, including the U.S., India, Poland, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Nigeria, the UAE, and nations across Europe.

After splashdown, Group Captain Shukla will undergo a rehabilitation programme for about a week, under the supervision of flight surgeons, in order to adapt back to Earth’s gravity.