On Monday, Nasa retiree and private astronaut Peggy Whitson, along with her crew members from India, Poland, and Hungary, left the International Space Station (ISS) and started their journey back to Earth. The group undocked from the orbital laboratory at 7.15am ET in a Crew Dragon capsule, which was launched by Texas-based startup Axiom Space in partnership with SpaceX.
The Axiom-4 mission lasted for 18 days and involved conducting research experiments in microgravity. For India, Poland, and Hungary, this launch represented their first human spaceflight in over 40 years and the first time astronauts from their respective government space programs traveled to the ISS.
If everything goes according to plan, the Dragon capsule is expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere in a 22-hour return flight and parachute into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California around 530am ET on Tuesday.
Peggy Whitson, who retired from Nasa in 2018, is leading the Axiom-4 mission. She was the first female chief astronaut for Nasa and the first woman to command an ISS expedition. The mission will extend her space record by about three weeks.
Axiom, a nine-year-old venture co-founded by a former Nasa ISS program manager, is developing a commercial space station of its own, intending to replace the ISS, which Nasa expects to retire around 2030. This marks the 18th crewed spaceflight logged by SpaceX since 2020.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/14/international-space-station-astronauts-home
