Houston [US], July 13 (ANI): After spending almost 18 days aboard the International Space Station as part of the Axiom-4 mission (Ax-4), Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian astronaut to visit the ISS, along with this crew for the mission, is set to undock from the space station today, at approximately 4:35 PM IST.

As per a release by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the departure operations will begin with hatch closing at 4:30 am EDT or 2:00 PM IST on Monday, with the crew entering the spacecraft at 4:55 am EDT or 2:25 PM IST, followed by hatch closing.

From there, undocking will begin at approximately 6:45 am EDT or 4:15 PM IST, with the actual undocking approximately at 7:05 am EDT or 4:30 PM IST.

The whole process will be telecast by NASA on NASA+, and the coverage will end approximately 30 minutes after undocking.

Following this, Axiom Space and SpaceX, via axiom.space/live and SpaceX's website, will continue the coverage of the Dragon Grace spacecraft re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere and subsequent splashdown off the coast of California in the Pacific Ocean at around 3 PM IST on Tuesday, July 15.

As per Axiom Space, the crew's return journey will take approximately 22.5 hours back to Earth, marking the conclusion of their nearly mission aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Earlier on Sunday, Group Captain Shukla delivered a stirring farewell speech from the ISS as the Ax-4 crew prepares for its journey back to Earth.

With a modern twist, he quoted the iconic words of Cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian in space, saying, 'Aaj ka Bharat abhi bhi saare jahaan se acha dikhta hai' (Today's India is still more splendid than the entire world).

'Aaj ka bharat space se mahatvakaanshi dikhta hai, aaj ka bharat space se nidar dikhta hai, aaj ka Bharat confident dikhta hai, aaj ka Bharat garv se poorn dikhta hai aur inhi sab kaarano ki vajah se aaj mai fir se keh sakta hoon ki aaj ka bharat abhi bhi saare jahaan se acha dikhta hai' (Today's India looks ambitious from space. Today's India looks fearless, confident, and full of pride),' he added.

Group Captain Shukla also expressed his gratitude to the people of ISRO, NASA, international partners, Axiom Space, and SpaceX for making this journey possible and highlighted the incredible experience of working with professionals from around the world and the mission's far-reaching impact.

The Ax-4 crew, comprising Commander Peggy Whitson, Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), European Space Agency (ESA) project astronaut Slawosz 'Suave' Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland, and Hungarian to Orbit (HUNOR) astronaut Tibor Kapu, had been actively engaged in research and outreach activities aboard the ISS as part of the mission during the past 18-days.

As per NASA, the Dragon spacecraft will return to Earth with more than 580 pounds of cargo, including NASA hardware and data from over 60 experiments conducted during the mission.

Axiom Mission 4 was launched on June 25 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. The Dragon spacecraft successfully docked with the ISS on June 26 at 4:05 pm IST, ahead of schedule, connecting to the space-facing port of the station's Harmony module. (ANI)