The Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft was at the International Space Station (ISS). It undocked and returned to Earth on Saturday evening. Photo by NASA
April 19 (UPI) — NASA astronaut Don Pettit and two Russian cosmonauts, Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, left the ISS. They are on their way back to Earth.
They departed the ISS at 5:57 p.m. EDT in the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft. They will travel for about 27.5 hours. They will land in Kazakhstan at 9:20 p.m. EDT on Sunday. This information comes from a NASA news release.
Pettit, Ovchinin, and Vagner spent 220 days in space. They went around the Earth 3,520 times and traveled 93.3 million miles since they arrived at the ISS on September 11.
While at the ISS, they studied many things like life support systems and medicine in space.
This is Don Pettit’s fourth spaceflight. He has spent a total of 590 days in space. Ovchinin has also been to space four times and has 595 days in total. Vagner has gone to space two times and spent 416 days there.
The capsule will land in Kazakhstan with a parachute. A helicopter will take the three crew members to Karaganda, Kazakhstan. Pettit will then fly to Houston, and Ovchinin and Vagner will go to training in Star City, Russia.
NASA will show the landing live online starting at 8 p.m. EDT on Sunday at NASA+.
Vocabulary List:
- Spacecraft /ˈspeɪs.kræft/ (noun): A vehicle designed for travel or operation in outer space.
- Undocked /ʌnˈdɒkt/ (verb): To separate from a docking port or station.
- Astronaut /ˈæs.trə.nɔːt/ (noun): A person trained to travel in a spacecraft.
- Parachute /ˈpær.ə.ʃuːt/ (noun): A device filled with air to slow descent from height.
- Training /ˈtreɪ.nɪŋ/ (noun): The action of teaching a person or animal a particular skill or behavior.
- Live /laɪv/ (adjective): Broadcast at the time of the event not pre-recorded.
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