Shubhanshu Shukla, other Axiom-4 crew members enter Dragon spacecraft, undocking from ISS soon

The astronauts have entered the Dragon spacecraft which is scheduled to undock from the station at around 4.35 pm IST.

Peggy Whitson, former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space, ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, ESA (European Space Agency) project astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland, and HUNOR (Hungarian to Orbit) astronaut Tibor Kapu of Hungary, have spent over two weeks in space a part of the mission.

Shukla became the first Indian astronaut to reach the ISS, writing a new chapter in the history of India.

In a statement, NASA said: "The Dragon spacecraft will return with more than 580 pounds of cargo, including NASA hardware and data from over 60 experiments conducted throughout the mission."

Shukla's farewell speech

Shukla, who is part of the Axiom-4 mission, referred to the words of Rakesh Sharma and said India still looked 'sare jahan se accha' (the best place in the world) from space.

He remarked during his farewell speech, ahead of leaving the International Space Station (ISS) following his two-and-a-half-week stay in the facility.

"It has been an incredible journey," he said in his farewell speech.

Also Read: India still looks 'sare jahan se accha' from space, says Shubhanshu Shukla in his farewell speech

"I did not imagine all this when I started on Falcon 9 on June 25," he said.

Praising his ISS colleague, Shukla said, "It has been made incredible because of all the people involved. It was an incredible joy to be here."

Looking back on his journey, Shukla said: "Over the past 2.5 weeks, we have done a lot of science on the station. We have done outreach activities and looked back at the Earth whenever we found time. It also seems magical to me."

Referring to the words of Rakesh Sharma, India's first astronaut to visit space, Shukla said: "41 years ago, an Indian went to space and said how India looks from space."

"We will like to know how India looks from space now. India looks ambitious,  fearless, confident and proud from space today."

"India still looks 'sare Jahan se accha' from space," he said.

Axiom 4 or Mission 'Akash Ganga' is the first firm step for India's Gaganyaan human space flight mission.