NASA Sets Coverage for Astronaut Chris Williams, Crewmates Return

NASA astronaut Chris Williams is set to return to Earth this Sunday following a 241-day mission aboard the International Space Station. He will be joined by Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev for the journey back from the orbiting laboratory. The crew is scheduled to depart in their Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft on July 26, concluding a mission that included 3,856 orbits around the planet and over 102 million miles of travel.

The return sequence begins with an undocking from the station’s Rassvet module at 3:02 a.m. EDT. Following their departure, the crew will descend through the atmosphere for a parachute-assisted landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan, southeast of Dzhezkazgan. This marks a significant milestone for the crew members involved in the mission.

Preparations for the return include a change of command ceremony on Saturday, July 25, where Kud-Sverchkov will hand over control of the station to NASA astronaut Jessica Meir. Once the Soyuz MS-28 officially undocks, Expedition 75 will begin on the station.

After their landing in Kazakhstan, recovery teams will transport the crew to Karaganda. Williams is scheduled to return to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, while his colleagues will head back to their training base in Star City, Russia. The public can view the entire return process via the official NASA website, with coverage scheduled to begin early Sunday morning.