Tracy C. Dyson and Crew Return from ISS on Soyuz MS-25

NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson, along with Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub and Oleg Kononenko, is set to return to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft. The undocking from the ISS's Prichal module is scheduled for 4:37 a.m. EDT on September 23, 2024, with a parachute-assisted landing expected at 8 a.m. in Kazakhstan. This mission marks Dyson's 184 days in space, during which he completed 2,944 orbits around Earth and traveled approximately 78 million miles. The Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft launched on March 23, 2024, and arrived at the ISS two days later. Dyson was part of a crew that included Oleg Novitskiy and spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya, who returned to Earth on April 6, 2024. In contrast, Kononenko and Chub have spent 374 days in space, covering 158.6 million miles and completing 5,984 orbits since their launch on the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft. Following their landing, the crew will be transported by helicopter to Karaganda, Kazakhstan, where Dyson will board a NASA plane to return to Houston. Meanwhile, Kononenko and Chub will head to a training base in Star City, Russia. NASA will provide live coverage of the return activities, including a change of command ceremony on September 22, where Kononenko will transfer command of the ISS to NASA astronaut Suni Williams. This mission is part of NASA's ongoing efforts to advance scientific research aboard the ISS, which has been continuously inhabited for over two decades. The agency is also focusing on future deep space missions, including Artemis, to prepare for human exploration of Mars.