Watch LIVE: Shubhanshu Shukla splashes down in Pacific Ocean after historic ISS mission

Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian astronaut to visit the International Space Station (ISS), has made a historic return to Earth with a successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego in California. Shubhanshu Shukla touched down on Earth at 3:02 pm (India time) on Tuesday, July 15.

Shubhanshu Shukla and his fellow crew members aboard the Dragon spacecraft took over 22 hours to journey back to Earth from the International Space Station.

After spending nearly 20 days in space, with 19 onboard the space station as part of the Axiom-4 mission, Shubhanshu Shukla made a proud milestone for India’s space journey.

Shubhanshu Shukla and the other crew members’ return to Earth was also announced. How? With a sonic boom.

SpaceX had said earlier in a post on X today that the arrival of the crew, which is aboard its Dragon spacecraft, will be announced with a “brief sonic boom” ahead of their splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

SpaceX said, “Dragon and the Axiom Space Ax-4 crew are on track to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and splash down off the coast of San Diego at ~2:31 a.m. PT tomorrow. Dragon will also announce its arrival with a brief sonic boom prior to splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.”