Astronauts and cosmonauts return to Earth after eight months aboard the International Space Station, landing safely on the Kazakh steppe as winter winds swirl across snow and frost.
The Soyuz MS-27 crew — Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky of Roscosmos, along with Jonny Kim of NASA — touched down on Tuesday in Kazakhstan, their descent guided by a parachute and braking thrusters. The landing occurred at 12:03 a.m. EST (05:03 GMT), or 10:03 a.m. local time, in a snowy landscape that bore the marks of a chilly, overcast day.
Both Ryzhikov and Kim appeared in good spirits and sound physical condition after the eight-month mission. Zubritsky, however, was escorted directly to an inflatable medical tent for post-landing assessment.
In a brief post-landing message, Ryzhikov congratulated the crew, saying, “Congratulations on one more end of a Soyuz vehicle trip. Expedition 73, all tasks complete. The crew are feeling great.” Kim and Zubritsky echoed a sense of satisfaction and readiness for whatever comes next.
Medical and support teams will arrange transport: the trio will be flown by helicopter to Karaganda, where recovery operations are coordinated. Kim will later board a NASA jet bound for Houston, while Ryzhikov and Zubritsky will travel to Star City, Russia, home of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.
The mission’s return followed a Monday undocking from the station’s Prichal module, marking the end of Expedition 73 and the transition to Expedition 74. The eight-month journey began with the crew’s departure from the station at 8:41 p.m. EST (01:41 GMT Tuesday).
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During a brief post-flight ceremony, Jonny Kim spoke about the enduring human elements of spaceflight, emphasizing love as a defining trait of astronauts and the people who support them and our planet. He reflected that the strongest bond aboard is not technical prowess or loyalty alone, but the care shared among crew members and the broader community.
Kim further noted that the spirit of teamwork and mutual respect — offering grace to one another and maintaining a deep connection to ground and supporters — is what makes space exploration possible and humane.
At the time of the landing, the Expedition 74 crew was already aboard the space station, including commander Mike Fincke and NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Chris Williams, along with JAXA’s Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Platonov, Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, and Sergey Mikaev.
Kud-Sverchkov, Mikaev, and Williams had arrived in late November on a Soyuz launch that occurred after Russia’s sole launch pad capable of supporting station flights suffered significant damage, a factor that added a layer of complexity to operations.
Over their 245 days in orbit, Ryzhikov, Zubritsky, and Kim conducted extensive science investigations and technology demonstrations, contributed to station maintenance, and oversaw the integration and departure of cargo ships, including the first upgraded vehicles from Northrop Grumman (Cygnus XL) and JAXA (HTV-X).
Two spacewalks by Ryzhikov and Zubritsky facilitated external experiments and the relocation of a controller for the European Robotic Arm on the Russian segment of the station.
Ryzhikov, at 51, was the senior veteran of the MS-27 crew and has now accumulated space time that only a handful of people in history have surpassed.
Fincke highlighted the surrounding celebrations of milestones like the 60th anniversary of Gemini 7, underscoring the long arc of American human spaceflight history as he welcomed the new crew.
Ryzhikov, a Russian Air Force colonel, has previously flown on Expedition 50 in 2017 and Expedition 64 in 2021. Zubritsky, 33, became the 630th person to reach Earth orbit, while Kim, 41, known for his diverse background as a former U.S. Navy SEAL and physician, was the 631st person to orbit Earth. Ryzhikov initially joined the program in 2016 as the 548th human to travel to space.
Soyuz MS-27 marks Russia’s 73rd spacecraft in its class to launch for the station since 2000 and the 156th Soyuz flight overall since the program began in 1967.
Robert Pearlman, a space historian and founder of collectSPACE.com, continues to chronicle spaceflight history and its intersections with pop culture. His work includes contributions to Space.com and co-authorship of Space Stations: The Art, Science, and Reality of Working in Space (Smithsonian Books, 2018). Pearlman’s career has earned him recognition within the space community, including induction into the U.S. Space Camp Hall of Fame (2009) and other prestigious honors for telling the space story across the Space Coast and beyond.
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