NASA astronaut and cosmonaut crewmate complete 355-day spaceflight
CBSN
NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei joined two Russian cosmonauts aboard a Soyuz spacecraft, undocked from the International Space Station and plunged back to Earth Wednesday, landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan to close out a U.S.-record 355-day stay in space.
Despite a break in East-West relations following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, station operations have continued normally and Vande Hei was ferried home as planned with Soyuz MS-19/65S commander Anton Shkaplerov and flight engineer Pyotr Dubrov.
Descending under a billowing orange-and-white parachute, the Soyuz module made a jarring rocket-assisted touchdown near the town of Dzhezkazgan at 7:28 a.m. EDT (5:28 p.m. local time).
More Related News