Indian Air Force Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and his team may return from space on July 14. NASA gave this information in a statement on Thursday. Earlier, the European Space Agency (ESA) had indicated that all the astronauts of the Axiom-4 (Ax-4) mission would not return to Earth before July 14. Along with Shubhanshu Shukla, this mission includes American astronauts Peggy Whitson (commander), Poland's Slawomir Uznanski-Wisniewski, and Hungary's Tibor Kapu. The team left on June 25 in SpaceX's 'Dragon Grace' capsule on a Falcon rocket, and successfully connected to the International Space Station (ISS) on June 26.
From June 27, this team started science experiments, for which 14 days were scheduled. That is, they were to return on July 10, but now, according to ESA, their return to Earth is possible only after July 14. However, this date will depend on the 'undocking' of the Dragon capsule, which has not been confirmed yet.
What is Shubhanshu Shukla doing on the ISS?
Shubhanshu Shukla is conducting seven microgravity experiments for India there. Apart from this, he is also doing five experiments in partnership with ISRO and NASA. On the 10th day, he worked on the Sprouts project. In this, he started to test the effect of microgravity on seed germination and initial growth by keeping the seeds at -80 degrees Celsius. These seeds will be brought to Earth and grown for several generations, so that their genetics and nutrition can be examined.
Shubhanshu has also tested microalgae, which are being seen as a potential source of oxygen, food, and biofuel production for astronauts in the future. Apart from this, he has also taken pictures of seeds for the Crop Seeds project, which includes six types of crops that will be grown for several generations after the mission, and their genes will be analyzed.
What will happen after return?
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