Post successful undocking, Shux, mates to splash down on July 15
The Ax-4 mission's space capsule SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, named Grace, undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) at 4.50pm IST on July 14 – 10 minutes behind schedule due to technical reasons. After the 12 capture hooks of the space capsule were released to facilitate the undocking procedure, thrusters were manually operated by Shux and Ax-4 mission commander Peggy Whitson to enable the capsule to distance itself from the ISS.
The subsequent procedures would involve reducing the orbital altitude of Grace from 400 Km. ISRO scientists familiar with the undocking procedure and the process of return to Earth, explained that after undocking, the capsule would continue to orbit as an independent entity till the thrusters are fired to reduce its speed for a safe landing. The crucial time for that would begin at 2 pm (IST) on Tuesday, an hour before the scheduled splashdown.
The thrusters of the capsule, piloted by Shux and mission commander Peggy Whitson, will be fired to drastically reduce the capsule's speed from 26,200 km/hour to just 24 km/hour in less than an hour to facilitate its descent to an altitude of 80km from where the parachutes would come into play to ensure a safe and successful splashdown.
Only Monday, at 4.48pm IST, two minutes before the undocking was completed, Expedition 73's seven crew members on board the ISS (who the four Ax-4 mission crew members joined on the space station on June 26 afternoon), relayed a message, 'Have a Safe Journey Back Home,' to the Ax-4 crew members.
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