Axiom-4's launch, carrying Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, was delayed due to a liquid oxygen leak in the Falcon-9 rocket.

A group of private astronauts are journeying home through outer space after spending a little more than two weeks at the International Space Station.

ISRO's insistence on rectifying a technical flaw in SpaceX's Falcon-9 rocket potentially saved the Axiom-4 mission from disaster.

With waves and smiles, Shubhanshu Shukla returned to Earth on Tuesday after an 18-day stay on the International Space Station, a feat that holds the promise to herald India's own human spaceflight ambitions. Back in Lucknow, his hometown, Shukla's family members celebrated his achievement by bursting firecrackers and dancing to the dhol beats.

Privately funded American space company Axiom Space successfully finished its Ax-4 mission on Tuesday morning, returning astronauts from India, Poland, and Hungary from the International Space Station, and safely splashing down off the Californian coast.

The four astronauts of Axiom Mission 4 were the latest to make a splashdown off the coast of California following a stint at the space station.

Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla has returned to Earth after spending 18 days at the International Space Station. He became the second Indian after Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma to go to space since 1984 and the first Indian to go to the space station.