In a flawless descent, a Russian Soyuz ferry ship undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) and touched down on the steppe of Kazakhstan, bringing a Russian cosmonaut, a Belarusian guest flier, and a NASA astronaut back to Earth. The Soyuz MS-24/70S spacecraft, commanded by Oleg Novitskiy, safely landed approximately 90 miles east of Dzhezkazgan at 3:17 a.m. EDT.

Within minutes of the landing, Russian recovery crews arrived at the scene to aid the returning space explorers as they readjusted to the pull of gravity. Novitskiy and first-time flier Marina Vasilevskaya had spent a mere two weeks on the ISS after launching on the Soyuz MS-25/71S spacecraft on March 23. Tracy Dyson, the NASA astronaut who accompanied them on the journey, will return to Earth next September using the newly delivered MS-25 spacecraft.

Meanwhile, ISS commander Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub remain midway through their yearlong stay in space and plan to return to Earth in September 2023, along with Dyson. They had arrived at the ISS in September 2022 aboard the older Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft, which now carried Novitskiy, Vasilevskaya, and NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara back to Earth.

O'Hara, who had spent a remarkable 204 days in space, completing 3,264 orbits, and covering 86.6 million miles, looked healthy and in high spirits upon touchdown. She even embarked on a six-hour and 42-minute spacewalk during her time on the ISS. Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya, logging 14 days in space, spanning 224 orbits and 5.9 million miles, were also in good condition.

Expressing her overwhelming emotions, Vasilevskaya, speaking through a translator on NASA TV, conveyed her gratitude to the people of Belarus and expressed her delight at being on board the station. As the first Belarusian citizen to fly in space since the Soviet Union's dissolution, Vasilevskaya symbolized the longstanding alliance between Belarus and Russia.

Following brief medical examinations and phone calls to their loved ones, the trio was scheduled to be flown to Karaganda by helicopter. O'Hara would then head home to Houston aboard a NASA jet, while Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya would return to Star City near Moscow.

Left behind on the ISS were Commander Kononenko, Chub, Dyson, cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, and NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps. This successful return of O'Hara marked the completion of a complex sequence of flights to replace five of the space station's seven long-duration crew members.

With the safe return of Novitskiy, Vasilevskaya, and O'Hara, the ongoing mission at the ISS continues with a dedicated team of international astronauts, paving the way for further scientific advancements and exploration in space.