After a record-breaking 355 days spent in space, a NASA astronaut is back on earth
After a record-breaking 355 days spent in space, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei is back on Earth.
In a Russian Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft, Vande Hei and cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov undocked from the International Space Station at 3.21 a.m. ET Wednesday. They touched down after a parachute-assisted landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan at 7:28 a.m. ET.
The spacecraft experienced its deorbit burn at 6:34 a.m. ET Wednesday, which lasted over four minutes and helped slow the Soyuz down. Each step of the crew’s return is streamed live on NASA’s TV channel and website.
The Soyuz landed upright but ended up on its side due to winds pulling the parachute. Recovery teams assisted the crew in leaving the capsule. After landing, the Russian mission control center’s main screen shared the message, “Welcome back, Mark!”
It was a highly anticipated return that has only drawn more attention due to mounting geopolitical tensions over the past month, and NASA has repeatedly reaffirmed that it continues to work closely with Russian space agency Roscosmos.
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