[Update] Soyuz MS-24 Returns 3 Astronauts To Earth From The Space Station
After departing the International Space Station (ISS) at 0354 UTC on Friday April 5, a Russian Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft landed near Karaganda, Kazakhstan, at 0717 UTC. Aboard for the 3.5 hours flight, were NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus.
Novitskiy, Vasilevskaya and NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson lifted off from Kazakhstan on March 23 aboard a different Soyuz spacecraft. O'Hara launched on another Soyuz last September, spending 204 days in space before coming home Friday.
O'Hara, selected by NASA in 2017, and Vasilevskaya were both on their first missions. Novitskiy had already conducted three long-duration missions aboard the ISS: Expeditions 33/34 in 2012-13, Expeditions 50/51 in 2016-17 and Expeditions 64/65 in 2021.
WATCH Soyuz MS-24 Land in Kazakhstan
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Soyuz-2.1a rocket lifted up from Pad 31/6 at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakstan at 1236 UTC on March 23, carrying Belavia Airlines flight attendant from Belarus, Marina Vasilevskaya 33, cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky 52, of Roscosmos and NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson, 54 on a mission to the International Space Station. It was their second try at launching to space after a low voltage warning from a piece of ground support equipment halted the countdown on Thursday.
"It's a big honor for me and a big responsibility to be in this unbelievable mission," Vasilevskaya said before heading to the launch pad. "This is our national project. It's such a big honor. I'm so proud to represent our republic."
After about 50 hours of orbital chase, the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft docked at 1503 UTC (March 25) with Russia's Prichal node on the international Space Station (ISS).
Following hatch opening at 1726 UTC, the 3 crewmates were welcomed aboard the space station.
Dyson will stay in orbit for about six months, serving as a flight engineer for ISS' Expeditions 70 and 71. Novitskiy, and Vasilevskaya, however, will live on the station for just 12 days or so; they'll come home in early April aboard a different Soyuz, along with NASA's Loral O'Hara.
O'Hara arrived at the station last September, aboard a Soyuz that also carried cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub. Kononenko and Chub are about halfway through their planned yearlong orbital stay; they'll come back to Earth in September with Dyson.
There are four other astronauts on the orbiting lab as well, who arrived earlier this month on SpaceX's Crew-8 mission for NASA. Those four, who will stay up for about six months, are NASA's Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps, and Alexander Grebenkin of Roscosmos.
MS-25 is Russia's 71st Soyuz to launch for the space station since 2000 and the 154th to fly since 1967.
Soyuz is one of the 3 main spacecraft that deliver cargo and astronauts to the space station. SpaceX uncrewed Dragon delivered supplies to the orbital lab on March 23.
WATCH Soyuz MS-25 launch 3 to the space station