Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, who is currently on the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Axiom-4 mission, was seen enjoying a meal with his fellow astronauts a few days ahead of his return. Shubhanshu is scheduled to return to Earth on July 14. Astronaut Jonny Kim, stationed on the ISS, shared some happy photos of the occasion, in which Shukla can be seen laughing and eating in microgravity while the rest of the crew members are also seen floating in zero gravity during the meal.
One of the most unforgettable evenings I’ve experienced on this mission was sharing a meal with new friends, Ax-4, aboard the International @Space_Station.
We swapped stories and marveled at how people from diverse backgrounds and nations came together to represent humanity in… pic.twitter.com/hdzXxrwLaV---Advertisement---— Jonny Kim (@JonnyKimUSA) July 10, 2025
NASA announced on Thursday that Shubhanshu Shukla and the other three members of the Axiom-4 mission will return to Earth on July 14.
The mission was launched on June 25 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and the Dragon spacecraft successfully docked with the ISS on June 26 after a journey of about 28 hours.
While on the ISS, Shukla and his crewmates orbited the Earth about 230 times and experienced the same number of sunrises. In this two-week space journey, they covered a distance of about one crore kilometers.
The “high beta period” is the time when the orbit of the space station is at an angle of 70 degrees or more with the Sun, due to which the station receives constant sunlight. This situation can create extreme heat, for which NASA has to maintain precise temperature control.
