Beril Çanakcı
27 July 2026•Update: 27 July 2026
A US-Russian crew returned safely to Earth on Sunday after spending nearly eight months aboard the International Space Station (ISS), completing a mission that included scientific research, spacewalks, and maintenance work in orbit.
The Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft carrying NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev touched down under parachutes at 1027GMT near Zhezkazgan in central Kazakhstan after undocking from the ISS about three and a half hours earlier.
The trio spent 241 days aboard the orbiting laboratory after launching on Nov. 27, 2025. During the mission, they completed 3,856 orbits of Earth and traveled more than 102 million miles (164 million kilometers).
The mission was the first spaceflight for Williams and Mikaev and the second for Kud-Sverchkov.
During their stay aboard the ISS, the crew carried out scientific experiments, tested technologies designed for use in future space missions, and performed maintenance on the station.
Williams participated in research on potential cancer treatments and advanced manufacturing in microgravity, while also conducting two spacewalks to help prepare the station for electrical power system upgrades and replace a faulty joint on the Canadarm2 robotic arm.
After undergoing medical examinations at the landing site, the crew traveled by helicopter to Karaganda, Kazakhstan.
Williams is scheduled to return to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, while Kud-Sverchkov and Mikaev will continue to Star City, Russia's main cosmonaut training center outside Moscow.
The International Space Station has been continuously inhabited since November 2000, serving as a microgravity laboratory where astronauts from multiple countries conduct research that cannot be carried out under Earth's gravity.
The mission also underscored one of the few remaining areas of cooperation between the US and Russia despite broader geopolitical tensions.
NASA says research aboard the ISS supports advances in medicine, materials science, and technologies needed for future human missions to the Moon under the Artemis program and, eventually, to Mars.
