Soyuz capsule returns to Earth with 3 crew after 245-day mission

• 3 crew members traveled nearly 104 million miles during their 245-day mission, says NASA

ISTANBUL

The Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft returned to Earth from the International Space Station on Tuesday near Zhezkazgan city in Kazakhstan, the Russian space corporation (Roscosmos) announced.

According to Roscosmos, two Russian cosmonauts, Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, and NASA astronaut Jonathan Kim were evacuated from the Soyuz capsule early Tuesday morning.

“In the morning, the spacecraft undocked from the Prichal module. Its deorbiting and descent to Earth proceeded regularly!” according to the statement.

During the mission, Russian cosmonauts conducted 42 scientific experiments, local media reported.

The Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft launched and docked with the space station on April 8.

The three crew members traveled nearly 104 million miles during their 245-day mission, NASA announced separately on Tuesday.

Kim and Zubritsky made their first trip to the space station, while Ryzhikov has spent 603 days in space over three trips to the orbital complex, ranking him 13th all-time.

“The three crew members will fly by helicopter to Karaganda, Kazakhstan, where recovery teams are based. Kim will board a NASA aircraft and return to Houston, (U.S.) while Ryzhikov and Zubritsky will depart for their training base in Star City, Russia,” said a NASA statement.