{"id":35097,"date":"2025-04-20T08:12:07","date_gmt":"2025-04-20T08:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/35097\/"},"modified":"2025-04-20T08:12:07","modified_gmt":"2025-04-20T08:12:07","slug":"soyuz-ms-26-spacecraft-brings-nasa-russia-astronauts-back-to-earth-space-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/35097\/","title":{"rendered":"Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft brings NASA, Russia astronauts back to earth | Space News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Landing on the steppes of Kazakhstan coincides with US astronaut Donald Pettit\u2019s 70th birthday.<\/p>\n

Russian astronauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Wagner have returned to Earth along with American Donald Pettit after a seven-month science mission on board the International Space Station (ISS).<\/p>\n

The Russian Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft carrying the trio touched down southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, at 6:20am (01:20 GMT) on Sunday, the landing confirmed by the United States\u2019s NASA and Russia\u2019s Roscosmos space agency.<\/p>\n

The timing of their parachute-assisted return to Earth coincided with the US astronaut\u2019s 70th birthday, NASA said on the social media platform X.<\/p>\n

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Happy birthday, @astro_Pettit<\/a>! Many happy returns (including this one) \ud83e\udd73<\/p>\n

The MS-26 Soyuz spacecraft touched down in Kazakhstan at 9:20pm ET\u2014or, in local time, 6:20am April 20, Pettit’s 70th birthday. pic.twitter.com\/qFM5fAxnA0<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 NASA (@NASA) April 20, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

NASA said the crew was moved to a recovery staging area in the city of Karaganda, adding that Pettit was doing well.<\/p>\n

The crew arrived on the orbiting ISS laboratory on September 11, 2024, spending 220 days in space during which they orbited the Earth 3,520 times, completing a journey of 93.3 million miles (150.15 million km), NASA said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Pettit spent his time researching \u201cin-orbit metal 3D printing capabilities\u201d and \u201cwater sanitisation technologies\u201d while exploring plant growth and fire behaviour in space.<\/p>\n

This was Pettit\u2019s fourth spaceflight, with a total of 590 days in orbit logged throughout his career. Ovchinin has notched up 595 days in space over four flights, while Wagner has reached a total of 416 days over two flights.<\/p>\n

Space exploration has remained a rare avenue of cooperation between the US and Russia since the latter unleashed its war in Ukraine in February 2022.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the Soyuz MS-27<\/a> spacecraft carried another US-Russia crew \u2013 NASA\u2019s Jonathan Kim and Russian crewmates Sergei Ryzhikov and Alexei Zubritsky \u2013 to carry out scientific experiments on the ISS.<\/p>\n

However, the US and other Western countries have ceased other partnerships with Roscosmos as part of a slew of sanctions placed on Russia over the war.<\/p>\n

Astronauts, who are trained and certified by NASA and others like the European Space Agency, are known as cosmonauts when they represent Roscosmos.<\/p>\n