NASA has set out its live coverage plans for the return of astronaut Chris Williams and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev as they conclude a 241-day mission aboard the International Space Station.
The trio is scheduled to depart the station aboard the Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft, undocking from the Rassvet module at 3:02 a.m. EDT on Sunday, July 26. NASA said the capsule is expected to land at 6:26 a.m. EDT (3:26 p.m. local time) on the steppe of Kazakhstan, southeast of Dzhezkazgan, using a parachute-assisted descent.
NASA said live return coverage will be available across multiple platforms, including its NASA Live stream at https://www.nasa.gov/live.
According to NASA, the mission will total 3,856 orbits and more than 102 million miles travelled by the time the crew returns to Earth. The flight is the first space mission for Williams and Mikaev and the second for Kud-Sverchkov.
After landing, recovery teams are set to transport the crew by helicopter to Karaganda, Kazakhstan. NASA said Williams will then travel to the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, while Kud-Sverchkov and Mikaev are due to return to their training base in Star City, Russia.
NASA’s published schedule for live coverage (all times Eastern, subject to change) includes the Expedition 74/75 change-of-command ceremony at 9:40 a.m. on Saturday, July 25; crew farewells and hatch closing coverage beginning at 11:10 p.m. the same day; undocking coverage starting at 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, July 26; and deorbit and landing coverage beginning at 5:15 a.m., with the deorbit burn at 5:32 a.m. and landing at 6:26 a.m.
NASA also noted the International Space Station has hosted continuous human presence for more than 25 years, supporting research and operations that inform future long-duration missions, including plans under the Artemis program and eventual Mars missions.