A record-setting American and his two Russian crewmates returned together from the International Space Station, showing that cooperation in space can continue even as tensions on the ground run high.
Mark Vande Hei of NASA has spent more time in space than any other U.S.astronomer, and he and his two colleagues landed together. On Wednesday, the three arrived at the airport at 7:28 a.m. On Russia's Soyuz MS-19 spaceship, it will descend to the steppe of Kazakhstan, southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan. Their landing was four hours after they left the International Space Station.
Vande Hei said before leaving the space station that he was looking forward to being outside no matter what the weather was like. After landing, he and his two crewmates were met by the recovery teams from NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency, who helped them out of the Soyuz and into chairs, where they sat for a while to get used to their new surroundings.
Video: Astronaut Mark Vande Hei on his near-year in space
Related: Mission updates from the International Space Station
It was the end of a 355-day mission for Dubrov, who launched with Vande Hei in April 2021. Shkaplerov served as commander of the expedition 66 crew during his 175 day stay on the station.
Shkaplerov said during a brief change of command ceremony on Tuesday that they worked very hard and didn't have any problems.
Shkaplerov called his American and European crewmates his "space brothers and space sister" despite their countries' strained relations over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
There are problems on Earth. He said that the International Space Station is a symbol of friendship and cooperation and future exploration of space.
Shkaplerov, Dubrov and Vande Hei left the space station at 3:21 a.m. On Wednesday, we will remove the module from the mini research module. Their departure signaled the start of the station's 67th expedition, which will include NASA, the European Space Agency, and Russian cosmonauts.
Satellite photos show the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Dubrov and Vande Hei were members of three expedition crews. They shared the space station with 22 crewmates and 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020 800-361-3020
Dubrov also conducted four spacewalks, including one with Shkaplerov, to prepare for the arrival and later outfit two new Russian modules.
Vande Hei helped conduct hundreds of science investigations and technology demonstrations, including setting a record by harvesting 26 chile peppers to feed the most astronauts from a crop grown in space.
Vande Hei's stay surpassed the previous record of 340 days for the longest consecutive time in space by an American as set by Scott Kelly in March 2016 Vande Hei now has 523 days in space after completing his second mission.
Dubrov is fourth on the worldwide list for the longest spaceflight. Polyakov flew the longest mission in history at 437 days, 17 hours and 58 minutes.
Shkaplerov spent over 700 days in space on his fourth mission. He is currently ranked seventh on the worldwide list for most time spent off Earth.
Shkaplerov traveled a total of 120 million km while completing 2,816 orbits of Earth. Vande Hei and Dubrov traveled more than 200 million miles.
Shkaplerov and Dubrov will return to Star City, outside of Moscow, while Vande Hei will return to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
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