Bye, bye blue sky; Dragon to touch sea today

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Shubhanshu Shukla, who spent eighteen days on the International Space Station, giving a new direction to India's space dreams, is on his way back to Earth.

The landing of the spacecraft in the Pacific Ocean off the American coast of Southern California at 3 pm today will be a proud moment for Indians. Shubhanshu and his team will be taken from the spacecraft, which will be recovered by ship, to the Johnson Space Center (JSC), located in Houston, Texas. After a week of care and training, Shubhanshu Shukla will step out into the outer world and return to India.

A special cell was allocated exclusively for ISRO in the control centre of the space station of NASA. Two doctors who have specialised in aerospace medicine and four scientists from India were part of this mission on Earth. The knowledge and experience gained by Shubhanshu in space and by this team on Earth will strengthen India's Gaganyaan project.

Shubhanshu Shukla is the second Indian to reach space. Shubhanshu arrived at the space station on June 26 with the Axiom 4 mission crew. The crew also included Peggy Whitson (US), Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski (Poland), and Tibor Kapu (Hungary).

Return of the Dragon: Subhanshu's return journey

(Yesterday evening Indian time)

4.38: The Dragon spacecraft is wrapped in a heat cover after Subhanshu and his team board. It can withstand 1600 degrees of heat

4.45: The Dragon spacecraft separates from the space station

4.53: After 200 meters away, the thrusters ignite and the spacecraft propels. It will orbit the Earth for 22.5 hours

This afternoon: It will slow down with the help of parachutes and enter the Earth's atmosphere

3 pm: The Dragon spacecraft will use the second set of parachutes to control its speed and land in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California. The US Navy will recover the spacecraft and bring it ashore on a ship. Subhanshu and his team will be transferred for observation

350 kilometers

The spacecraft will enter the Earth's atmosphere after reaching the top of the United States. Deorbit maneuver will take place when it reaches 350 kilometers from the Earth. Then, the speed will be controlled using parachutes to approach the Earth.