Cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, first-time flyer Nikolai Chub, and NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson successfully returned to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday. The Soyuz MS-25/71S spacecraft undocked at 4:36 a.m. EDT and landed in Kazakhstan at 7:59 a.m. EDT, capping a 374-day mission for Kononenko and Chub, and 184 days for Dyson. Kononenko achieved a new record of 1,111 days in space.
After landing, NASA and Russian rescue workers quickly assisted the astronauts, and all three appeared to be in good health. Kononenko, the world’s most experienced spaceman, turned over command of the ISS to Sunita Williams during a ceremony on Sunday.
Meanwhile, NASA and SpaceX are ready to launch astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov in a Crew Dragon capsule on Thursday. They will join astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams, as well as newly arrived cosmonauts Alexsey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, and NASA’s Donald Pettit, on board the station.
This trip comes as the Starliner crew prepares for a prolonged stay on the ISS due to concerns with the Boeing spacecraft. Crew 8 astronauts, including Commander Matthew Dominick, aim to return to Earth in early October on a Crew Dragon spacecraft. Hague and Gorbunov are slated to return to Earth in February 2025.
