U.S.-Russian space station crew lands in Kazakhstan after an 8-month stint
A joint U.S.-Russian crew has returned to Earth after an eight-month mission on the International Space Station. The mission highlights ongoing cooperation between the two nations in space exploration despite geopolitical tensions.
Why it matters
Space cooperation remains one of the few remaining diplomatic bridges between the U.S. and Russia during a period of strained relations.
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 was to be flown by helicopter to Karaganda, where Williams would board a plane to return to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, while Kud‑Sverchkov and Mikaev were set to fly to their training base in Star City, outside Moscow. Once bitter rivals in the space race during the Cold War, Russia and the U.S.
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