NASA astronauts, along with two cosmonauts, returned to Earth after the longest stay in space for six months

Tracy C. Dyson landed back on Earth on Monday, September 23, alongside Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub.

Tracy C. Dyson has safely returned from her six-month mission aboard the International Space Station. She landed back on Earth on Monday, September 23, alongside Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub.

The trio departed the space station aboard the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft. They launched at 4:36 a.m. EDT and landed at 7:59 a.m. (4:59 p.m. in Kazakhstan) southeast of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan.

During her time in orbit, Dyson engaged in groundbreaking research. She operated a 3D bioprinter, creating cardiac tissue samples. This work could help develop replacement organs for transplants.

Dyson also contributed to crystallising model proteins. This research aimed to assess hardware for pharmaceutical production. Additionally, she ran a programme that utilised student-designed software to control free-flying robots. This project encourages young innovators to explore space technology.

Dyson launched to the ISS on March 23. She arrived two days later, joining Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy and spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya from Belarus. Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya returned to Earth on April 6.

In total, Dyson spent 184 days in space, completing 2,944 orbits of Earth. As an Expedition 70/71 flight engineer, she travelled 78 million miles. She also conducted one spacewalk, adding 31 minutes to her career total. Now, her total spacewalk time stands at 23 hours and 20 minutes across four missions.

Kononenko and Chub launched with Loral O’Hara last September. They spent 374 days in space, completing 5,984 orbits and travelling 158.6 million miles. Kononenko made his fifth flight into space, reaching a total of 1,111 days in orbit. Chub completed his first space mission.

After post-landing medical checks, the crew will head to Karaganda, Kazakhstan. Dyson will then board a NASA plane to the Johnson Space Center in Houston.