NASA astronaut, 2 cosmonauts return to Earth after eight-month stay International Space Station - CBS News

What the report says

CBS News reported that NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Mikaev returned to Earth early Sunday, ending a 241-day mission on the International Space Station. Their Soyuz MS-28/74S spacecraft departed the station’s Rassvet module at 3:03 a.m. EDT and landed near Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, at 6:27 a.m. EDT, or 3:27 p.m. local time.

According to the report, the capsule fired its braking rockets after moving away from the station, re-entered the atmosphere, deployed its main parachute and made a rocket-assisted touchdown on the Kazakh steppe. NASA and Roscosmos said the mission covered 3,856 orbits and about 102 million miles since launch on Nov. 27. Russian recovery teams met the crew, helped them from the capsule and began initial medical checks as they readjusted to gravity.

The landing completed the first spaceflight for Williams and Mikaev. Kud-Sverchkov, who previously spent 185 days on the station in 2020-2021, finished his second mission. During the flight, Williams took part in two spacewalks, including work on the station’s robotic arm and preparations for new roll-out solar arrays, while Kud-Sverchkov and Mikaev conducted maintenance outside the Russian section.

CBS News said command of the station passed Saturday from Kud-Sverchkov to NASA astronaut Jessica Meir. Remaining aboard were Meir, Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, and the Soyuz MS-29 crew of Pyotr Dubrov, Anna Kikina and NASA astronaut Anil Menon, who arrived from Baikonur on July 14.