A Soyuz spacecraft early Saturday (Apr 6) successfully took back a Russian cosmonaut, a guest astronaut from Belarus, and a NASA crew member to Earth. The trio was on the International Space Station (ISS) on a crewed mission.
The Russian crewed Soyuz spaceflight, Soyuz MS-24, had embarked on its journey from Baikonur on September 15, 2023, following which there have been several crew rotations.
Initially, the spacecraft ferried station commander Oleg Kononenko, O’Hara, and Nikolai Chub to the station.
The Soyuz spacecraft is a series of spacecraft designed for human spaceflight operations, originally developed by the Soviet Union and now operated by the Russian space agency, Roscosmos. The spacecraft has been used for various missions, including transporting astronauts and cosmonauts to and from space stations, such the ISS.
Landing on Earth
Commander Oleg Novitskiy, Marina Vasilevskaya from Belarus, and NASA’s Loral O’Hara, touched down in Kazakhstan at 3:17 am EDT. After their landing on Earth, recovery teams quickly arrived to assist the returning space travellers as they adjusted to Earth’s gravity after their journey.
Notably, Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya had spent two weeks aboard the space station. Novitskiy, Vasilevskaya, as well as NASA veteran Tracy Dyson, were earlier launched to ISS on March 23 this year for crew rotation.
All three that landed back to Earth were in good health. Vasilevskaya, the first citizen of Belarus to fly in space since the Soviet era, conveyed her overwhelming emotions and reportedly said, “It’s something incredible. I wish all people on Earth to treasure and cherish what they have, because this is precious.”
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Following medical checks and communication with loved ones, the trio was scheduled to be transported to Karaganda by helicopter, with O’Hara heading to Houston and Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya returning to Star City near Moscow.
(With inputs from agencies)