US and Russian crew return safely after eight-month mission on the ISS

A joint U.S.-Russian crew has safely returned to Earth after spending 241 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS), landing by Soyuz spacecraft in Kazakhstan on Sunday.

NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev touched down by parachute near Dzhezkazgan following their eight-month mission. The flight marked the first space mission for Williams and Mikaev and the second for Kud-Sverchkov.

Following landing, the crew was transported to Karaganda, from where Williams returned to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, while the two Russian cosmonauts travelled to Star City near Moscow.

Despite broader geopolitical tensions, the United States and Russia continue to cooperate on ISS operations, with astronauts and cosmonauts regularly flying aboard both Soyuz and U.S. spacecraft under long-standing crew exchange agreements.

The returning crew handed over operations to Expedition 75, which was reinforced earlier in July by the arrival of NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina aboard Soyuz MS-29. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman attended the launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, marking the first visit by a NASA chief to the site in eight years.