3 Astronauts Return Safely To Earth After Space Mission
Trio Landed In Kazakhstan On April 6, 2024
NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and Belarus spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya successfully concluded their six-month research mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS) on April 6, 2024, when they touched down safely in Kazakhstan.
The trio bid farewell to the space station, boarding the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft at 11:54 p.m. EDT on April 5.
Following a smooth descent, they made a parachute-assisted landing at 3:17 a.m. EDT on April 6 (12:17 p.m. Kazakhstan time), southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan.
O’Hara, who embarked on her mission on September 15, 2023, spent 204 days in space during her first spaceflight. Novitskiy, a seasoned astronaut with four spaceflights, has accumulated 545 days in space. Vasilevskaya, on the other hand, completed her inaugural spaceflight, adding 14 days to her space travel experience.
Contributing to NASA’s Artemis campaign, O’Hara’s mission was vital in advancing preparations for lunar exploration and laying the groundwork for crewed missions to Mars.
3,264 Orbits Of Earth
Throughout her tenure aboard the ISS, she engaged in various scientific activities, including research on heart health, cancer treatments, and space manufacturing techniques. O’Hara completed approximately 3,264 orbits of Earth, covering a staggering distance of over 86.5 million miles.
After a successful landing, the crew underwent thorough post-landing medical evaluations. Once cleared, they proceeded to the recovery staging city in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. From there, O’Hara will board a NASA aircraft that will take her to the agency’s Johnson Space Centre in Houston, marking the end of her six-month space mission.
With the departure of Soyuz MS-24, Expedition 71 officially commenced aboard the ISS.
The team, which includes NASA astronauts Michael Barratt, Matthew Dominick, Tracy C. Dyson, and Jeannette Epps and Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin, and Oleg Kononenko, will continue their research and operations on the orbiting laboratory until autumn this year.
Featured image: Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara gives a thumbs up inside the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft after she, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and Belarus spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya landed in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, on April 6, 2024. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
