Goa, July 15 -- India's space ambitions received a powerful boost as Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla returned safely to Earth after completing a landmark 18-day mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS). At 3:01 pm IST on July 15, Shukla and his crewmates splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, concluding the Axiom-4 (Ax-4) mission aboard SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft.

This marks a historic milestone: Shukla is the first Indian to live and work on the ISS and only the second Indian in space after Rakesh Sharma. As the Dragon capsule re-entered Earth's atmosphere at over 27,000 km/h, it produced a sonic boom over California before parachutes deployed and slowed the craft for a gentle landing.

Shukla's crewm...