Subhanshu Shukla's Earth Reentry Captured In Stunning Dragon Capsule Video
The capsule's fiery plasma trail appears to streak across the heavens, a slow-motion shooting star descending toward the ocean's surface
A stunning video of astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla's Dragon capsule re-entering Earth off the coast of California has been captured and widely shared across social media.
The clip, shot from Marin County, California, shows the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft piercing the twilight sky like a glowing comet before splashing into the Pacific Ocean.
Shared on X by space enthusiast Scott Manley, the footage was quickly picked up and reposted by Axiom Space official handle. From a distance, the capsule's fiery plasma trail appears to streak across the heavens, a slow-motion shooting star descending toward the ocean's surface.
Axiom 4 Reentry from Marin county: pic.twitter.com/vSTp7MyhDH — Scott Manley (@DJSnM) July 15, 2025
Manley's caption simply read, 'Axiom 4 Reentry from Marin County." With 1.79 million YouTube subscribers and over half a million X followers, his stunning visuals of the Axiom-4 mission reentry have reached a vast audience. He later shared another version filmed from the International Space Station, writing, 'is this the longest tracking shot in history with the camera moving at 5miles a second?"
Shukla and his three fellow astronauts of the Axiom-4 mission concluded an 18-day stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and embarked on their return journey. The Dragon capsule 'Grace" undocked from the ISS on Monday at 4:45 pm IST (2:15 am PDT), and carried the crew safely back toward Earth.
SpaceX had scheduled the de-orbit burn for 2:07 pm IST over the Pacific Ocean, followed by the release of the spacecraft's trunk and heat shield orientation at 2:26 pm IST. Atmospheric entry brought fierce heat—reaching nearly 1,600 °C—before four parachutes deployed in stages: stabilising chutes at about 5.7 km altitude, followed by main parachutes at roughly 2 km, resulting in a dramatic splashdown around 3:01 pm IST (2:31 am PDT).
This mission marked a historic milestone for India, Poland, and Hungary, sending astronauts from all three countries to space after several decades. Shukla also became the second Indian to travel to space, following Rakesh Sharma's landmark journey in 1984.
(With inputs from agencies)
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