California: The Dragon spacecraft carrying Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and other crew members of Axiom-4, has successfully entered Earth’s atmosphere at 3:01 PM IST over the Pacific Ocean off the California coast after spending 18 days in space. Splashdown has been successfully completed.
Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla's parents, Shambhu Dayal Shukla and Asha Shukla, received a grand welcome on their arrival at the City Montessori School in Lucknow, where they will watch the live telecast of the entire event of his landing.
The first reaction from Shukla's parents has surfaced. The video shows them teary-eyed, giving a standing ovation and waving small tricolour flags, seeing the return of Shukla and other crew members to earth.
"We are very excited that our son is returning from the mission and landing on Earth. He had made us so proud. It will be noted down in history. We are waiting for his safe landing. It is a day of joy for the entire nation,” Shambhu Dayal Shukla, Shubhanshu's father, said, speaking to news agency ANI.
Thanking the entire nation for the prayers, he said, “I thank the entire nation for their prayers... He is our son, but he belongs to the entire nation... We prayed and remembered God.”
“When we saw the undocking, we knew he was on his way now. We are waiting for our son. He will reach by evening. We prayed for his well-being. We went to the temple and took Hanumaji's Darshan,” an emotional Asha Shukla, Shubhanshu Shukla’s mother, said, speaking to news agency ANI.
“We did a Sundarkand recitation. We are proud that our son wrote his name in history. We will give him a grand welcome,"she added.
The crew witnessed over 300 sunrises and sunsets from the orbital lab. Meanwhile, ISRO on Monday noted that astronaut Shukla has completed all seven microgravity experiments and other planned activities, "achieving a milestone in the mission."
"Experiments on Indian strain of tardigrades, myogenesis, sprouting of methi and moong seeds, cyanobacteria, microalgae, crop seeds, and voyager display have been completed as planned," the national space agency said.
