Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], July 15 (ANI): Ahead of the splashdown of the Dragon spacecraft, Group Captain Shubanshu Shukla's father Shambhu Dayal Shukla expressed his happiness on his son's return.

Speaking to ANI, Shambhu Dayal Shukla said that the splashdown would be noted down in history.

'We are very excited that our son is returning from the mission and landing on Earth. He had made us so proud. It will be noted down in history... We are waiting for his safe landing. It is a day of joy for the entire nation. I thank the entire nation for their prayers... He is our son, but he belongs to the entire nation... We prayed and remembered God...' the father said, speaking to ANI.

Notably, Group Captain Shubanshu Shukla spent almost 20 days in space with almost 19 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Axiom-4 mission (Axe-4), and has marked history by becoming the first Indian astronaut to visit the ISS.

The team is set for a splashdown on Earth off the coast of San Diego, California, at around 3 pm IST today.

According to a post on X by SpaceX, the crew, aboard its Dragon spacecraft are on track to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere, with their arrival to be announced with a 'brief sonic boom' ahead of their splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

'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,' SpaceX stated.

The crew currently aboard SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, Grace, are on their return journey, which will take approximately 22.5 hours back to Earth from the ISS.

Earlier, on Monday, the Ax-4 successfully undocked and marked their way back to Earth, as observed by Axiom Space and NASA.

In an informative blog about the mission updates, NASA informed that the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft undocked at 7:15 am EDT or 4:45 pm IST from the space-facing port of the International Space Station's Harmony module, completing the fourth private astronaut mission to the orbiting laboratory, Axiom Mission 4. (ANI)