Portugal Colonial - Astronauts from US, India, Poland, Hungary on SpaceX capsule return to Earth

The Ax-4 crew undocked from the International Space Station at 7:15 am EST on Monday (1115 GMT) for a 22.5-hour journey, landing in the Pacific Ocean at around 5:31 am EST (0931 GMT) on Tuesday.

The capsule performed its de-orbit burn before descending toward Earth, deploying drogue and main parachutes ahead of splashdown.

"Thanks for the great ride. ... happy to be back," Commander Peggy Whitson, an Axiom employee and former NASA astronaut, said after the splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off San Diego.

Also aboard were pilot Shubhanshu Shukla of India and mission specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.

Axiom Space is a private company that organizes missions to the International Space Station, flying both wealthy individuals and, as in this case, astronauts sponsored by their governments.

For the non-American trio, the mission marked a return to crewed spaceflight for their respective nations after decades-long absences.

They launched from Kennedy Space Center on June 25 for what turned out to be a two-and-a-half-week mission, during which they conducted around 60 scientific experiments.

For rising space power India, the flight served as a key stepping stone toward its first independent crewed mission, scheduled for 2027 under the Gaganyaan ("sky craft") program.

Shukla held a video call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in what was widely viewed as a significant soft power moment. He recounted sharing the sweet dish gajar ka halwa with his crewmates aboard the station.

This will be only SpaceX's second crew recovery in the Pacific Ocean.

The first occurred in April with the return of the Fram-2 mission. SpaceX has since shifted permanently to West Coast splashdowns, citing incidents where debris from Dragon's trunk survived atmospheric reentry and crashed back to Earth.

M.A.Vaz--PC