Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and three other astronauts of the Axiom-4 undocked from the International Space Station (ISS), marking the beginning of his 21-hour-long journey back to Earth.
00:00And we just heard confirmation that Dragon has exited the Keepout Sphere.
00:11Again, the Keepout Sphere is an invisible 200-meter line centered on the space station.
00:17It's one of several safety zones set up to govern spacecraft arriving and departing from
00:21the International Space Station.
00:23While spacecraft are inside the Keepout Sphere, they have to be configured where they would
00:26not cross into the imaginary boundary for at least four orbits, even if the spacecraft
00:30lost all maneuvering.
00:35The next major milestone for Dragon's departure will be exiting the Approach Ellipsoid.
00:39This is planned to take place about 13 minutes from now.
00:42Dragon, station Houston on the Big Loop.
00:44Dragon has exited the Keepout Sphere.
00:47Dragon copies.
00:52Station copies.
00:54Station looks beautiful.
01:01Dragon Grace, if we didn't have a shutter constraint, you could see us waving.
01:17All right.
01:18Great copy.
01:19All right.
01:20Look at that.
01:21That's a magical journey.
01:22That's now coming to conclusion with Group Captain Shubanchu Shukla, the Axiom for mission
01:24pilot, returning to Earth after spending about 18 days in total.
01:32Now the Dragon has exited the Keepout Sphere.
01:33The next major milestone for Dragon is crossing the Approach Ellipsoid.
01:39That will take place a little over 10 minutes from now.
01:41That Approach Ellipsoid is another imaginary shape, similar to the Keepout Sphere, but this
01:48time it's a three-dimensional ellipsoid measuring four kilometers by two kilometers by two kilometers.
01:50And one of the key differences with the Approach Ellipsoid is that vehicles outside of it have to be on what we call a 24-hour safe free drift trajectory.
01:57This means the spacecraft would not cross into the Approach Ellipsoid for at least 24 hours, even if it lost all maneuvering.
02:03After the spacecraft crosses the Approach Ellipsoid, joint operations will end and responsibility for the spacecraft will be handed back to the SpaceX flight control team in Hawthorne, California.
02:10Again, everything continuing to look good with Dragon's departure today, following a physical separation about 10 minutes ago at 6.15 a.m. Central, 7.15 a.m. Eastern.
02:23Again, everything continuing to look good with Dragon's departure today following a physical separation about 10 minutes ago at 6.15 a.m. Central, 7.15 a.m. Eastern.
02:28Dragon is now about 340 meters away from the International Space Station and continuing to increase that distance.
02:48And teams on the ground will continue to monitor the weather ahead of a splashdown tomorrow, Tuesday, July 15th at 5.31 a.m. Eastern off the coast of California.
02:59After Dragon exits the Approach Ellipsoid, there will be a couple of more departure burns and phasing burns to set the spacecraft up for the correct phasing and location for a splashdown.
03:08And for those of you who are just joining us, the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft carrying the Axiom Mission 4 crew recently undocked from the International Space Station's Harmony Module at 6.15 a.m. Central, 7.15 a.m. Eastern to complete an 18-day stay aboard the orbiting laboratory.
03:25Station Houston on the Big Loop. Johnny, please give Huntsville a call on Space to Ground 4.
03:32Station Houston on Space to Ground 4.
04:02Stay aboard the International Space Station, the Axiom Mission 4 crew conducted more than 60 experiments, and they will now be returning to Earth with more than 580 pounds of science and hardware.
04:13This was the fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station enabled by NASA.
04:20And while Dragon and the Axiom Mission 4 crew continue their departure from station, and as we stand by for the Approach Ellipsoid exit in just under 10 minutes from now, let's go ahead and check back in with Jesse and John in Hawthorne.
04:32Thanks, Anna.
04:34Thanks, Anna. We've got some great live views here. Previously, we didn't have any live views because we had a loss of signal, which is normal as we are passing by several ground stations.
04:45We're now passing over a ground station where we do have acquisition of signal and getting these great live views.
04:52Also in your bottom right-hand corner, you can follow along with this new graphic and see the thrusters firing on Dragon on the forward bulkhead, as well as the telemetry in the bottom left-hand corner.
05:03Now, as we mentioned earlier, Dragon is fully autonomous, which means it's capable of flying itself.
05:09Dragon was designed from the beginning for flying humans to space, even though its first missions carried only cargo.
05:15Now, before we could fly humans, our teams implemented a number of design upgrades to make sure that both Dragon and Falcon 9 are suitable for flying people,
05:23and then put both vehicles through thousands of tests to prove their safety.
05:27Now, prior to the Axiom Mission 4, SpaceX successfully completed 52 flights of Dragon to and from orbit since 2010, including 47 trips to the International Space Station.
05:39AX4 is SpaceX's 18th human space flight mission, and before Axiom Mission 4, SpaceX had flown 66 crew members, meaning that this mission brings that count to 70.
05:51That's incredible.
05:52You know, missions like this are important milestones for everyone involved, from the crew members who fly, to those that they represent,
05:58and to the host of scientists and engineers around the world who have an opportunity for their research or their technology to be tested in microgravity.
06:05Everyone learns from these missions.
06:07And for Axiom Space, this is at the heart of why we do these missions.
06:10We are building opportunities for others to advance what is possible and expand what is known.
06:14We want to enable every human everywhere to take part in this.
06:17Now, after a beautiful launch on June 25th, the AX4 crew docked with the International Space Station a little over a day later, opening the hatch and greeting the Expedition 73 crew on June 26th.
06:28The crew shared some good words and a welcoming ceremony before quickly getting to work on their extensive itinerary.
06:33Now, each crew member brought with them a host of research, technology demonstrations, and outreach objectives, ranging from human physiology to space radiation impact studies, and even some gardening.
06:44Now, this crew maintained a very full timeline, but they prepared for this.
06:48Each crew wanted, each crew member wanted to ensure that every minute of this mission was utilized well, and that all objectives were hit.
06:56So Peggy, Shooks, Suave, and Tibor were ready to work.
07:00Now, over the course of 18 days onboard the station, they accomplished over 60 research activities, as well as more than 20 outreach events.
07:07And as their time on station came to a close, the AX4 crew participated in a brief farewell ceremony, where they said their goodbyes to the Expedition 73 crew.
07:16Now, for more details on the incredible work performed by this crew on orbit, check out axiomspace.com.
07:24So that's the latest.
07:25The Dragon spacecraft has separated from the space station.
07:28Thruster findings have been nominal, driving Grace away from the space station, and onboard right now, returning from what clearly has been a landmark moment for India's space journey as well.
07:39Group Captain Subhansh Shukla, undocking from the ISS, the International Space Station, and wraps up a historic 18-day mission that will now have the data and the discoveries analyzed as well, as in when he returns.
07:53Remember, it's not that the mission is over.
07:55There will be, of course, findings that they will also be looking at.
07:5922 hours, however it will take, for them to return to Earth.
08:04So what you're looking at right now, only by afternoon tomorrow, by about 12 p.m., we'll have them possibly entering into the Earth's surface.
08:13And then, of course, there will be quarantine as well for them.
