Russian cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Mikayev, along with NASA astronaut Christopher Williams are seen in the launch rocket that to carry the Soyuz MS-28 crewed spacecraft at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Moscow, Russia on November 25, 2025. (P
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MOSCOW – A U.S.-Russian space crew safely returned to Earth on Sunday, landing in the steppes of Kazakhstan after spending eight months aboard the International Space Station.
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NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Russian crewmates Sergei Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev touched down in their Soyuz MS-28 that landed smoothly by parachute in a designated area southeast of Dzhezkazgan.
Their 241-day stint on the orbiting outpost was the first space mission for Williams and Mikaev and the second for Kud‑Sverchkov.
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What’s next:
The crew will be flown by helicopter to Karaganda, where Williams will board a plane to return to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, while Kud‑Sverchkov and Mikaev will take a flight to their training base in Star City, just outside Moscow.
The backstory:
Once bitter rivals in the space race during the Cold War, Russia and the U.S. cooperate on the space station and other projects. That relationship was marred by tensions after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, but Washington and Moscow have continued to work together, with U.S. and Russian crews flying to the orbiting outpost on each country’s spacecraft.
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On July 14, the crew of NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina arrived at the International Space Station for an eight-month mission after launching from the Russia-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on July 14.
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NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman attended the launch, the first visit to Baikonur by a NASA chief in eight years.
The newly arrived trio have joined NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrei Fedyaev as part of Expedition 75.
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