Soyuz Spacecraft Safely Returns to Earth After Leaving the ISS

On September 23, the Russian Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft made a successful landing in Kazakhstan, approximately three hours after undocking from the International Space Station (ISS). This mission brought back two Russian cosmonauts, Nikolai Chub and Oleg Kononenko, along with NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson.

The spacecraft touched down on the Kazakh steppe near Dzhezkazgan at 7:29 a.m. EDT. The undocking from the ISS occurred around 4:36 a.m. EDT from the Prichal module. After landing, the crew was scheduled to be transported by helicopter to Karaganda, a city in Kazakhstan. From there, Dyson will return to the Johnson Space Center near Houston on a NASA aircraft.

This was Dyson’s third journey to the space station, where she served as an engineer. She was part of Expeditions 70 and 71, contributing to a variety of scientific experiments during her time in orbit.

Crew members Kononenko and Chub set a remarkable record for a single mission aboard the ISS, spending a total of 374 days in space. This surpassed the previous record of 371 days, held by cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin, along with NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, who completed their mission from September 2022 to September 2023.

Oleg Kononenko, already a seasoned astronaut, holds the cumulative record for overall time spent in space, having completed 1,111 days in various missions throughout his career.

During her latest mission, Dyson accrued a total of 184 days in space. She had arrived on the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft in March alongside cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy and spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya from Belarus. Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya returned to Earth after 12 days on the earlier Soyuz MS-24 flight.

Looking ahead, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov are scheduled to join the remaining crew aboard the ISS. They will launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, with an expected arrival on Saturday. This mission will be part of the SpaceX Crew-9 mission, marking an important milestone.

This upcoming flight will also be significant as it will be the first human spaceflight to launch from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This venture underscores the ongoing collaboration between NASA and commercial spaceflight partners as they continue to explore the potential of human space exploration.

The successful return of the Soyuz MS-25 crew highlights the dedication and engineering prowess behind space missions conducted in partnership with international space agencies. With ongoing missions and an ever-growing presence in low Earth orbit, the journey of exploration continues, inspiring future generations to look up to the stars.