Indian Air Force member Shubanshu Shukla, also known as "Shux," is reaching the end of his 14-day mission onboard the International Space Station, where he has done everything from do stem cell experiments in a glove box to experience microgravity for the first time. Any day after July 10th, the Axiom-4 crew is scheduled to return to Earth.
The four-person crew will return with what experts are referring to as a "treasure trove of data," which is particularly important for India, which debuted at the 25-year-old microgravity lab. Working in the glove box and carrying out tests created by various Indian institutes has been thrilling. I am honored to do research on behalf of researchers back home by acting as a liaison between them and the space station. "Yes, it has been really busy," Shukla remarked with a smile from space early on Wednesday.
Unless their stay is prolonged, the Axiom-4 crew is scheduled to return to Earth this week, any day after July 10. The weather off the coast of Florida, where the spacecraft is due to splash down, is one of several variables that will affect the return date, which NASA has not yet announced.
A sequence of orbital burns will progressively reduce the ISS's altitude once the ship undocks, which requires the ISS to be at a predetermined point in its orbit. The spacecraft will be designed to begin a controlled descent and aim for a splashdown at the planned landing spot close to the Florida coast once it reaches a specific place in low earth orbit. NASA will lead this controlled operation.
Full operational preparedness on all fronts—the crew must be medically cleared, the system checks must be finished, and the ground and sea recovery teams must be in place—will determine the return data.