'Welcome Home': US-Russian Crew Lands Safely in Kazakhstan Aboard Soyuz MS-28 After 241-Day ISS Mission (Watch)
A U.S.-Russian space crew landed safely in the steppes of Kazakhstan on Sunday after an eight-month stint on the International Space Station. NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Russian crewmates Sergei Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev touched down in their Soyuz MS-28 that landed smoothly by parachute in a designated area southeast of Dzhezkazgan.
MOSCOW (AP): A U.S.-Russian space crew landed safely in the steppes of Kazakhstan on Sunday after an eight-month stint on the International Space Station. NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Russian crewmates Sergei Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev touched down in their Soyuz MS-28 that landed smoothly by parachute in a designated area southeast of Dzhezkazgan.
Their 241-day stint on the orbiting outpost was the first space mission for Williams and Mikaev and the second for Kud‑Sverchkov. The crew will be flown by helicopter to Karaganda, where Williams will board a plane to return to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, while Kud‑Sverchkov and Mikaev will take a flight to their training base in Star City, just outside Moscow. Russian Soyuz Rocket Succesfully Lifts Off With Three Astronauts to International Space Station.
Once bitter rivals in the space race during the Cold War, Russia and the U.S. cooperate on the space station and other projects. That relationship was marred by tensions after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, but Washington and Moscow have continued to work together, with U.S. and Russian crews flying to the orbiting outpost on each country's spacecraft.
On July 14, the crew of NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina arrived at the International Space Station for an eight-month mission after launching from the Russia-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on July 14. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman attended the launch, the first visit to Baikonur by a NASA chief in eight years. Who Is Anil Menon? Indian-American NASA Astronaut Launches to ISS Aboard Russia's Soyuz MS-29.
US-Russian Space Crew Lands Safely in Kazakhstan After 8 Months on ISS
The newly arrived trio have joined NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrei Fedyaev as part of Expedition 75.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 26, 2026 04:47 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).