Two Russian cosmonauts and American astronaut return to Earth

The Soyuz MS-28 space capsule, carrying Russian cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Mikayev, along with NASA astronaut Christopher Williams, successfully landed in the Kazakh steppe at 13:27 local time, according to Russia's space agency Roscosmos. Live broadcasts showed the trio smiling as they received assistance after their return.

Sergey Mikayev briefly stated that he felt well. For both Williams and Mikayev, this marked their first mission to the ISS, while Kud-Sverchkov was on his second. They launched to the ISS in late November of the previous year and spent eight months aboard the orbiting laboratory. During their 241 days in space, NASA reports they completed 3,856 orbits around the Earth, covering a distance of more than 160 million kilometers.

Despite the more than four years of Russia's war against Ukraine, collaboration between Russia and the United States aboard the ISS persists. The station orbits the Earth at an altitude of approximately 400 kilometers and has been continuously inhabited and operational for 25 years.