Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan – A Russian Soyuz spacecraft successfully undocked from the International Space Station, safely returning Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, Belarusian guest flier Marina Vasilevskaya, and NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara back to Earth. The trio landed in Kazakhstan, about 90 miles east of the town of Dzhezkazgan.
Russian recovery teams swiftly arrived at the landing site to assist the returning space travelers as they readjusted to Earth’s gravity. Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya, who spent two weeks aboard the station, experienced a relatively smooth re-entry process. They had launched on the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft alongside NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson in March.
Meanwhile, space station commander Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub, who are in the midst of a year-long mission in space, remained on the station. They plan to return next September using the new MS-25 spacecraft delivered by Novitskiy. Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya brought O’Hara back to Earth on the older Soyuz spacecraft she flew to the station last September.
O’Hara, after landing, had completed a 204-day mission, including a six-hour, 42-minute spacewalk, covering 86.6 million miles. Novitskiy and Vasilevskya’s mission lasted 14 days, with 224 orbits and 5.9 million miles traveled.
Upon landing, the three crew members appeared healthy and in good spirits as they rested near their Soyuz descent capsule, welcomed by support staff. Vasilevskaya expressed her emotions, emphasizing the value of treasuring life’s experiences.
Vasilevskaya, a ballroom dancer and flight attendant with Belavia Airlines, became the first citizen of Belarus to fly in space since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Despite tensions between the U.S. and Russia, both nations continue their collaboration in space, exemplified by their joint operation of the International Space Station.
Following medical evaluations and communications with their families, the crew members were scheduled to be transferred by helicopter to Karaganda. O’Hara would return to Houston aboard a NASA jet, while Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya would head back to Star City near Moscow.
The space station crew remaining in orbit includes Kononenko, Chub, Dyson, Alexander Grebenkin, Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps. O’Hara’s return marked the completion of a series of crew rotations on the station.