New Delhi: Within the silence of house, homecoming isn’t all the time about wheels touching concrete. On his return from a profitable house mission, Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla splashed down safely into the Pacific Ocean close to California, driving aboard the SpaceX Dragon capsule. His descent was clean, calculated and calm. This second evoked one other chapter in historical past, one which started almost 41 years in the past on a dusty plain in Kazakhstan.
Again in April 1984, Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, India’s first man in house, had returned aboard the Soviet Soyuz T-10 capsule. His touchdown website was the sprawling and marshy fields of Arkalyk in Kazakhstan. His mission had taken him to the Soviet Salyut 7 house station.
His return was noisy, turbulent and nearly jarring. But it surely was historic. And it raised a query as to why did one astronaut return to land and the opposite to sea?
The reply is a mix of spacecraft design, logistics, security calculations and nationwide technique.
A Protected Landing or a Splash?
Ocean landings, what engineers name “splashdowns”, are sometimes the primary alternative for missions returning to the US. SpaceX’s Dragon, like Apollo missions earlier than it, lands within the ocean. The water cushions the affect. It additionally offers an enormous pure buffer zone. Particles from the spacecraft’s trunk is jettisoned earlier than reentry, falling harmlessly into the ocean as an alternative of onto populated land.
However even splashdowns have their dangers. Earlier this yr, chunks of a discarded Dragon trunk had been discovered throughout distant areas of Australia and Canada. Fortunately, nobody was harmed. The incident proved that even the ocean isn’t foolproof.
Touchdown on strong floor, then again, could look easier however it’s removed from it. Boeing’s Starliner did simply that in 2024, gliding to a landing on the White Sands Area Harbor in New Mexico.
Russia and China have most popular land landings for many years. Their capsules come down in huge and managed stretches of wilderness like Kazakhstan or Internal Mongolia.
The advantages? Simpler restoration, decrease price and no want for naval assist.
The dangers? A more durable touchdown. Extra shock to the physique. Particularly for astronauts re-adapting to gravity after days or perhaps weeks in orbit.
Spacecraft Design Dictates Touchdown Fashion
Spacecraft should not one-size-fits-all. Every automobile is engineered with a particular reentry plan. Whether or not it’s Russia’s Soyuz, China’s Shenzhou, SpaceX’s Dragon or Boeing’s Starliner, the selection of touchdown website is constructed into the capsule’s very bones.
In Shubhanshu Shukla’s case, a splashdown made sense. SpaceX missions are designed for water landings. The Pacific Ocean offers flexibility, consolation and restoration entry. The crew’s security comes first. Restoration vessels wait in place, and helicopters are sometimes deployed to achieve the crew inside minutes of landing.
However for the Soyuz capsule that introduced again Rakesh Sharma, a parachute-guided descent onto laborious land was the norm. That mission ended within the semi-frozen earth close to Arkalyk, a desolate stretch the place generations of Soviet cosmonauts had landed. The rugged Kazakh steppe has lengthy been used for such operations, its openness decreasing the chance to close by populations.
A Veteran Remembers
Rakesh Sharma opened up in 2024 about that return to earth. Talking to PTI, he had described the uncooked and jarring remaining moments of reentry.
“The return was extra dramatic than anticipated. There was some extent once I thought it may not go as deliberate. And all of the sudden, the parachute opened. There was plenty of noise. Greater than we had been ready for,” he had stated.
It was a reminder. Reentry isn’t a routine a descent. It’s survival.
Area, Then and Now
From Sharma’s Soviet capsule in 1984 to Shukla’s SpaceX Dragon in 2024, a lot has modified. Expertise has developed. Personal gamers have stepped in. Consolation and management have improved. However one factor has not modified – earth remains to be a tough place to return to.
For Shubhanshu Shukla, the ocean provided calm and precision. For Rakesh Sharma, the earth provided resilience and custom. Two astronauts. Two eras. Two very totally different journeys again dwelling.