A three-person crew is set to depart the International Space Station this weekend, concluding a mission that spanned 241 days in orbit. NASA astronaut Chris Williams, along with Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev, will return to Earth aboard the Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft.
The return journey begins with the spacecraft undocking from the station's Rassvet module at 3:02 a.m. EDT on Sunday, July 26. Following a deorbit burn, the crew is expected to land in the steppe of Kazakhstan, southeast of Dzhezkazgan, at 6:26 a.m. EDT. By the time they touch down, the crew will have completed 3,856 orbits and traveled over 102 million miles.
Prior to the departure, a change of command ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, July 25, at 9:40 a.m. EDT. During this event, Kud-Sverchkov will hand over leadership of the orbital laboratory to NASA astronaut Jessica Meir. The official transition to Expedition 75 will occur when the Soyuz spacecraft undocks from the station.
Following their arrival in Kazakhstan, the crew will be transported by helicopter to Karaganda. From there, Williams will travel to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, while Kud-Sverchkov and Mikaev will return to their training facility in Star City, Russia. This mission represented the first spaceflight for both Williams and Mikaev, and the second for Kud-Sverchkov.
Source: NASA
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