India, July 14 -- Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and the three other crew members of the Axiom-4 space mission started their journey back to Earth on Monday, around 4.50 pm IST, after 18 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

The Dragon spacecraft's undocking from the ISS was scheduled for anytime after 4.15 pm. Some steps in the process were delayed by at least 10 minutes, NASA said.

The spacecraft will bring back, along with the Ax-4 crew, over 550 pounds (250 kg) of cargo, including equipment and samples of dozens of experiments, the US space agency added. The crew had boarded the spacecraft by 4.20 pm IST.

As per the schedule, it is to make a splashdown off the coast of California on Tuesday, July 15, around 3 pm IS...