Overview
- Jonny Kim, Sergey Ryzhikov, and Alexey Zubritsky are scheduled to undock from the Prichal module at 8:41 p.m. EST on Monday, Dec. 8, with a parachute-assisted landing at 12:04 a.m. EST on Tuesday, Dec. 9 southeast of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan.
- NASA will stream the return on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and YouTube, with coverage spanning farewells and hatch closing through undocking, deorbit, and landing beginning Monday afternoon Eastern time.
- The change-of-command ceremony is set for 10:30 a.m. EST on Sunday, Dec. 7, when Ryzhikov will transfer station leadership to Mike Fincke to begin Expedition 74 at undocking.
- The crew is wrapping a roughly 245-day mission that logged about 3,920 Earth orbits and nearly 104 million miles, marking first ISS flights for Kim and Zubritsky and a third trip to space for Ryzhikov.
- After landing, the trio will fly by helicopter to Karaganda for medical checks and onward travel, with Kim returning to Houston on a NASA aircraft and Ryzhikov and Zubritsky heading to Star City, as station traffic remains tight after a recent all-ports-occupied configuration and Baikonur’s Site 31/6 undergoes repairs following a structural collapse.