Expedition 71 crew members (from left) Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub, both Roscosmos cosmonauts, and NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson pose for a portrait inside the International Space Station’s Rassvet module.
NASA’s live coverage of undocking is now underway on NASA+ and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.
At 1:02 a.m. EDT, hatches between the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft and the International Space Station closed in preparation for undocking and return to Earth of NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson and Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub and Oleg Kononenko.
The spacecraft will undock from the orbiting laboratory’s Prichal module at 4:36 a.m., heading for a parachute-assisted landing at 7:59 a.m. (4:59 p.m. Kazakhstan time) on the steppe of Kazakhstan, southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan.
NASA will provide coverage of deorbit burn, entry, and landing at 6:45 a.m. on NASA+ and the agency’s website.
Soyuz Hatch Closed, Trio Prepares to Undock From Station
NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson is pictured inside the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft ahead of hatch closure on Sept. 23. Credit: NASA
At 1:02 a.m. EDT, the hatch closed between the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft and the International Space Station in preparation for undocking and return to Earth.
NASA will provide live undocking coverage at 4 a.m. on NASA+ and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.
NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson, accompanied by Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub and Oleg Kononenko, will undock from the orbiting laboratory’s Prichal module at 4:37 a.m., heading for a parachute-assisted landing at 8 a.m. (5 p.m. Kazakhstan time) on the steppe of Kazakhstan, southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan.
Live NASA Coverage Underway of Soyuz Crew Farewell and Hatch Closure
The Soyuz MS-25 crew ship is pictured docked to the Prichal docking module as an aurora radiates brightly above the Indian Ocean.
NASA’s live departure coverage is underway on NASA+ and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.
NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson and Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub and Oleg Kononenko will close the hatch between the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft and the International Space Station at 1:05 a.m. EDT Monday, Sept. 23.
The spacecraft will undock from the orbiting laboratory’s Prichal module at 4:37 a.m. to begin the journey back to Earth, heading for a parachute-assisted landing at 8 a.m. (5 p.m. Kazakhstan time) on the steppe of Kazakhstan, southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan.
NASA will provide live undocking coverage at 4 a.m. on NASA+ and the agency’s website.
Spanning 184 days in space, Dyson’s mission includes covering 2,944 orbits of the Earth and a journey of 78 million miles. The Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft launched March 23, and arrived at the station March 25, with Dyson, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus. Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya were aboard the station for 12 days before returning home with NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara on April 6.
Kononenko and Chub, who launched with O’Hara to the station on the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft last September, will return after 374 days in space and a trip of 158.6 million miles, spanning 5,984 orbits.
Dyson spent her fourth spaceflight aboard the station as an Expedition 70 and 71 flight engineer, and departs with Kononenko, completing his fifth flight into space and accruing an all-time record 1,111 days in orbit, and Chub, who completed his first spaceflight.
Crew Wraps Week with Landing Preps and Advanced Tech Studies
The Soyuz MS-26 (foreground) and MS-25 (background) crew ships are pictured docked to the International Space Station as it orbited above Africa.
Three Expedition 71 crewmates are in their final weekend aboard the International Space Station getting ready for a return to Earth. Meanwhile, the rest of the orbital residents were busy on Friday exploring how the human body adapts to weightlessness, manufacturing tools on demand, and running an educational robotics competition.
NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson is completing a six-month mission, while Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub are wrapping up just over a year in low-Earth orbit. The Earth-bound trio is scheduled to depart the orbital lab inside the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft at 4:47 a.m. EDT on Monday. At that time, Expedition 71 will end and Expedition 72 will officially be under way. The crew inside the Soyuz will parachute to a landing just over three hours later in Kazakhstan. NASA’s live undocking and landing coverage will stream on NASA+ and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.
Microgravity research was full speed ahead at the end of the week despite the landing preparations as the rest of the crew conducted space biology and advanced technology investigations. Scientists can remotely monitor the experiments on the station or analyze the samples after they are returned to Earth to advance human health, space industries, manufacturing, household products, and more.
NASA Flight Engineer Mike Barratt spent his day exploring how living in space affects his cognition and vision as part of the CIPHER suite of 14 human research experiments. Barratt first took a test while practicing robotic maneuvers to measure any space-caused changes in his brain structure and function. Afterward, NASA Flight Engineer Jeanette Epps peered into Barratt’s eyes using medical imaging hardware looking for alterations in his eye structure and vision.
Epps also activated the Astrobee robotic free-flyers in the Kibo laboratory module and monitored as the toaster-sized robot assistants performed pre-programmed maneuvers designed by Asian college students. Algorithms were written to solve specific problems such as guiding the Astrobee to find a lost item in this robotics competition sponsored by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) to inspire the next generation of engineers, scientists, and leaders.
NASA Flight Engineer Matthew Dominick spent his day on exercise research to learn how working out in microgravity affects the bones and muscles. Dominick performed squats, deadlifts, and heel raises on the advanced resistive exercise device as specialized cameras with motion detection systems monitored his workout. Doctors already know astronauts need to increase the intensity of exercise in space to reduce the rate of body mass loss. Now they are learning ways to maximize the effectiveness of a space workout to keep crews healthier on long-term missions.
The station’s newest trio, with NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, was busy on Friday maintaining orbital lab systems and studying state-of-the-art technologies. Pettit inspected safety hardware documenting the condition, locations, and ID numbers. Ovchinin and Vagner investigated futuristic planetary piloting techniques then tested printing tools on a 3D printer. Fellow cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin also participated in the futuristic pilot study. Both experiments are preparing crews for longer missions farther away from Earth.
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams started the day reviewing updated emergency procedures as they settle into a mission set to end in February 2025. Next, Wilmore assisted Pettit with the safety gear checks while Williams organized cargo inside the Cygnus space freighter.
NASA astronaut Nick Hague (left) and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station as part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission no earlier than 2:05 p.m. EDT Thursday, Sept.. 26 Credit: SpaceX
Coverage is set for NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, who are scheduled to launch no earlier than 2:05 p.m. EDT Thursday, Sept. 26, aboard NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station.
Hague and Gorbunov are scheduled to arrive at approximately 1:30 p.m. EDT Saturday, Sept. 21, touching down at the Launch and Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
After landing, the crewmates will join NASA Kennedy leadership to make brief remarks and answer questions from the media. Additional participants include:
Kelvin Manning, deputy director, NASA Kennedy
Dana Hutcherson, deputy program manager, Commercial Crew Program, NASA Kennedy
Live coverage of the crew’s arrival will stream on NASA+ and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.
The Crew-9 mission to the space station will be the first human spaceflight mission to launch from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This is the ninth crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the orbiting laboratory under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The crew will spend approximately five months at the station, conducting more than 200 science and research demonstrations before returning in February 2025.
