Live on NASA+: Soyuz Crew Undocking from Station Soon

Live on NASA+: Soyuz Crew Undocking from Station Soon

The Soyuz MS-27 crew spacecraft is pictured docked to the Prichal module just hours before undocking from the International Space Station and returning three crew members to Earth.
The Soyuz MS-27 crew spacecraft is pictured docked to the Prichal module just hours before undocking from the International Space Station and returning three crew members to Earth.
NASA

NASA’s live coverage of undocking is now underway on NASA+Amazon Prime, and YouTube. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.

At 5:30 p.m. EST, hatches closed between the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft and the International Space Station in preparation for undocking and the return to Earth of NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky.

The spacecraft will undock from the orbiting laboratory’s Prichal module at approximately 8:41 p.m. It will make a parachute-assisted landing at 12:03 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 9 (10:03 a.m. local time in Kazakhstan), on the steppe of Kazakhstan, southeast of the city of Dzhezkazgan.

Watch NASA’s live coverage of the deorbit burn, entry, and landing, beginning at 10:30 p.m. on NASA+Amazon Prime, and YouTube.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Mark A. Garcia

Hatches Closed, Crew Inside Soyuz Ready to Depart

Hatches Closed, Crew Inside Soyuz Ready to Depart

Soyuz MS-27 crew members (frm left) NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky pose for a portrait at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Russia.
Soyuz MS-27 crew members (frm left) NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky pose for a portrait at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Russia.
GCTC

At 5:30 p.m. EST, the hatch closed between the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft and the International Space Station in preparation for undocking and return to Earth.

Watch NASA’s live undocking coverage beginning at 8:15 p.m. on NASA+Amazon Prime, and YouTube. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.

NASA astronaut Jonny Kim, accompanied by Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, will undock from the station’s Prichal module at approximately 8:41 p.m., headed for a parachute-assisted landing at 12:03 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 9 (10:03 a.m. local time in Kazakhstan), on the steppe of Kazakhstan, southeast of the city of Dzhezkazgan.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Mark A. Garcia

Live on NASA+: Three Crewmates Say Farewell, Set to Depart Station

Live on NASA+: Three Crewmates Say Farewell, Set to Depart Station

From left, NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky will soon depart the International Space Station inside the Soyuz MS-27 crew spacecraft for a landing in Kazakhstan.
From left, NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky will soon depart the International Space Station inside the Soyuz MS-27 crew spacecraft for a landing in Kazakhstan.
NASA

NASA’s live departure coverage is underway on NASA+Amazon Prime, and the agency’s YouTube channel. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of online platforms, including social media.

NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky will close the hatch between the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft and the International Space Station at 5:10 p.m. EST.

The spacecraft will undock from the station’s Prichal module at approximately 8:41 p.m., headed for a parachute-assisted landing at 12:04 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 9 (10:04 a.m. local time in Kazakhstan), on the steppe of Kazakhstan, southeast of the city of Dzhezkazgan.

Watch NASA’s live undocking coverage at 8:15 p.m. on NASA+Amazon Prime, and YouTube.

Kim and his crewmates are completing a 245-day stay aboard the station. At the conclusion of their mission, they will have orbited Earth 3,920 times and traveled nearly 104 million miles. The Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft launched and docked with the station on April 8.

This was the first flight for Kim and Zubritsky to the orbiting laboratory, while Ryzhikov is ending his third trip to space. Ryzhikov will have logged a total of 603 days in space, ranking him 13th all time.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Mark A. Garcia

Crew Swaps Commanders on Sunday as Trio Packs for Departure

Crew Swaps Commanders on Sunday as Trio Packs for Departure

The Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft, which launched three Expedition 73 crew members to the International Space Station, is pictured docked to the Prichal module. Prichal is itself connected to the Nauka science module on the station’s Roscosmos segment. Below, the Pacific Ocean fades from view as an orbital sunset descends 258 miles beneath the orbiting complex.
The Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft is pictured docked to the Prichal module. Below, the Pacific Ocean fades from view as an orbital sunset descends 258 miles beneath the orbiting complex.
NASA

Expedition 73 will swap commanders this weekend before three crew members return to Earth on Monday. Expedition 74 officially begins once the home bound trio undocks from the Rassvet module inside the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft the following day.

Veteran Roscosmos cosmonaut and station Commander Sergey Ryzhikov will hand over a symbolic key representing command of the orbital outpost to four-time space flyer NASA astronaut Mike Fincke at 10:30 a.m. EDT on Sunday, Dec. 7. Fincke will formally take responsibility of station operations  and lead the new Expedition 74 crew at the moment Ryzhikov and Flight Engineers Alexey Zubritsky of Roscosmos and Jonny Kim of NASA back away from the orbital outpost inside their Soyuz at 8:41 p.m. on Monday. Ryzhikov and Zubritsky spent Friday packing cargo and personal items inside the Soyuz MS-27 and making final preparations for their Monday night departure with Kim.

The trio aboard the Soyuz descent module will parachute to landing in Kazakhstan less than three-and-a-half hours later at 12:04 a.m. on Tuesday completing an eight-month space research journey orbiting over 250 miles above Earth. NASA’s live coverage of the crew’s return will be broadcast on NASA+Amazon Prime, and the agency’s YouTube channel beginning at 4:45 p.m. on Monday with farewell and hatch closure.

NASA Flight Engineer Chris Williams, who arrived at the station with Flight Engineers Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev on Nov. 27,  has stepped into his new role as a first-time station astronaut and assisted Kim inside the Quest airlock on Friday installing lights, cameras, and straps on a pair of spacesuit helmets. Williams then wore electrodes around his eyes as computerized medical gear operated by NASA Flight Engineer Zena Cardman sent light signals to test his retinal response in microgravity.

Kim also cleaned his crew quarters and took airflow measurements as he prepares to end his stay in space. Cardman later checked out wireless high-definition camera hardware to be used inside the station when photographing future spacewalks.

Flight Engineers Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev took turns measuring their blood pressure then getting up to speed with life on orbit during the first half of Friday. Next, Kud-Sverchkov and Mikaev collected a variety of station microbial and personal biological samples for stowage and analysis as part of ongoing research to keep crews healthy in space.

Flight Engineer Kimiya Yui of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency uninstalled the NanoRacks CubeSat deployer after it deployed several tiny satellites into Earth orbit for government, educational, and commercial research. Fincke spent his shift replacing orbital plumbing components and inspecting fire extinguishers and breathing masks. Roscosmos Flight Engineer Oleg Platonov completed the end of the week transferring fluids into a Progress cargo craft then assisted Kud-Sverchkov processing microbe samples swabbed from surfaces in the station’s Roscosmos segment.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Mark A. Garcia

Station Trio Nears Departure During Busy Day of Blood Research

Station Trio Nears Departure During Busy Day of Blood Research

The seven-member Expedition 73 crew gathers together for a portrait inside the International Space Station's Kibo laboratory module celebrating NASA astronaut Mike Fincke's (center) 500 cumulative days in space over four missions since 2004. In the front from left are, Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov, NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, Mike Fincke, and NASA astronaut Jonny Kim. In the back are, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Platonov and Alexey Zubritsky.
The seven-member Expedition 73 crew gathers together for a portrait on Nov. 27, 2025, celebrating NASA astronaut Mike Fincke’s (center) 500 cumulative days in space over four missions since 2004. In the front from left are, Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov, NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, Mike Fincke, and NASA astronaut Jonny Kim. In the back are, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Platonov and Alexey Zubritsky.
NASA

Three Expedition 73 crewmates will end their stay aboard the International Space Station when they undock Dec. 8 and return to Earth a few hours later. In the meantime, blood research took precedence on Thursday ensuring astronauts stay healthy while living long-term in weightlessness.

NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky are poised to complete a 245-day space research mission when they undock at 8:41 p.m. EDT on Monday, Dec. 8, from the Prichal module inside the Soyuz MS-27 crew spacecraft. The trio will parachute back to Earth inside the Soyuz descent module for a landing in Kazakhstan at 12:04 a.m. on Tuesday, less than three-and-a-half hours later. NASA’s live coverage of the crew’s return  will be broadcast on NASA+Amazon Prime, and the agency’s YouTube channel.

The homebound threesome reviewed and practiced the operations they will perform inside the Soyuz once they begin to feel the pull of Earth’s gravity as they reenter the atmosphere. Ryzhikov and Zubritsky also tested a unique suit that reverses space-caused fluid shifts toward the upper body by pulling blood toward the feet. Results may prevent head and eye pressure in space and ease the adjustment to gravity after a multi-month-long spaceflight.

NASA Flight Engineers Zena Cardman and Chris Williams scanned their veins with the Ultrasound 2 device and measured each other’s blood pressure providing doctors insight into an astronaut’s cardiovascular system. The duo conducted the cardiac portion of the long-running CIPHER human research investigation inside the Columbus laboratory module that is tracking astronaut health before, during, and after a mission.

Flight Engineers Mike Fincke of NASA and Kimiya Yui of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) took turns bringing Williams up-to-speed with life on orbit. The veteran astronauts familiarized Williams with station hardware, operations, and systems. Williams has been on the orbital outpost since Nov. 27 when he and Roscosmos Flight Engineers Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev arrived on the Soyuz MS-28 crew spacecraft.

Kud-Sverchkov and Mikaev examined how microgravity affects blood flow in a cosmonaut’s fingers and toes. A variety of advanced medical gear observed the behavior of their microcirculatory system as they wore a set of electrodes and cuffs on their head, hands, and feet.

Roscosmos Flight Engineer Oleg Platonov spent the first part of his shift documenting the location and amount of clothing and towels available in the Roscosmos segment of the station. After lunchtime, Platonov spent the rest his shift on life support maintenance duties.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Mark A. Garcia