The SpaceX Dragon splashed down into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego 22.5 hours after leaving the International Space Station; during 20-day mission, astronauts orbited Earth 320 times.
Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and his fellow crew members on the Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) returned to Earth on Tuesday afternoon (July 15), as their SpaceX Dragon splashed down at 3:02 p.m. IST.
They returned from an 18-day sojourn on the International Space Station that was a first step for India’s own ambitions for indigenous human spaceflight, with Mr. Shukla — a Group Captain in the Indian Air Force — selected as one of the Indian astronauts on the Gaganyaan Mission.
The Dragon’s splashdown occurred off the coast of San Diego in the United States, 22-and-a-half hours after it departed from the ISS on July 14. Fifty minutes later, the astronauts made their way out of the Dragon, helped by the medical crew aboard the Space X recovery vessel, the Shannon.
Rehab programme
The first to come out of the Dragon was Ax-4 mission Commander Peggy Whitson of the United States, followed by Group Captain Shukla, who was the pilot for the mission, Mission Specialist Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland, and Mission Specialist Tibor Kapu of Hungary.
Smiling and waving at the cameras, the astronauts were assisted by the team aboard the rescue ship as they went for routine medical checks after spending almost 20 days in microgravity conditions. According to the Indian Space Research Organisation, Group Captain Shukla will undergo a rehabilitation programme for about a week under the supervision of flight surgeons to help him adapt back to Earth’s gravity.
320 orbits of Earth
The four astronauts flew to the space station on the Dragon after it was launched by the Falcon 9 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 25. During the 20-day mission, the crew completed 320 orbits around the Earth, covering 8.4 million miles of spaceflight, Axiom Space said. They also completed over 60 research activities and 23 outreach events. The Ax-4 crew members departed from the orbiting laboratory on July 14.
Early on Tuesday, SpaceX announced that the Dragon was on track to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere and splash down off the coast of San Diego as per schedule. At around 2:09 p.m., the deorbit burn phase of the splashdown commenced, lasting for about 18 minutes.
Following the completion of the deorbit burn, the truck was jettisoned, and the Dragon’s nose cone was closed and secured for entry into the Earth’s atmosphere. A few minutes later, the Dragon’s two drogue parachutes deployed above the Pacific Ocean, followed by deployment of the four main parachutes, and the Dragon had a textbook splashdown into the ocean.
Safe splashdown
“Thanks for the great ride and safe trip and happy to be back,” Ms. Whitson said in her first message post splashdown.
Soon, a couple of fast boats with recovery personnel approached the Dragon to ensure that the spacecraft was safe.
The recovery personnel then completed sniff checks to ensure there were no hazardous chemicals around the vehicle and after they picked up the main parachutes, the main recovery vessel Shannon approached the Dragon.
The Dragon was then lifted to the recovery vessel and placed on the recovery nest before being moved to the hangar aboard the ship for the opening of the spacecraft hatch. After the hatch was opened, the astronauts exited the Dragon one by one, completing their mission.
Axiom Space said that they will undergo their first medical checks onboard the recovery vessel, before flying on a helicopter back to land. From there, the crew will be flown to Houston where they will be reunited with their respective teams.
source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)