India etched a historic moment in space exploration as Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla returned from an 18-day mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS). His splashdown in the Pacific Ocean near California was nothing short of cinematic.

According to BBC, the Space Research Organisation ( ISRO) spent Rs 5 billion or Rs 500 crore ($59m; £43m) on Shukla’s trip on Axiom-4 — a commercial flight operated by Houston-based private company Axiom Space and a joint effort by NASA, ISRO and European Space Agency.