The Soyuz MS-19 crew ship bring NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and two cosmonauts is visualized moments before landing under the clear, blue skies of Kazakhstan. Credit: NASA
NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei ended his record-breaking time on the International Space Station with a parachute-assisted landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan, southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan, at 7:28 a.m. EDT (5:28 p.m. Kazakhstan time). Vande Hei, in addition to Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov, began the journey back to Earth in the morning hours on the Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft.
Vande Hei got to the International Space Station on April 9, 2021, spending 355 days in low-Earth orbit, breaking the previous record held by retired NASA astronaut Scott Kelly by 15 days.
” Marks objective is not just record-breaking, however also paving the way for future human explorers on the Moon, Mars, and beyond,” stated NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “Our astronauts make amazing sacrifices in the name of science, expedition, and innovative technology advancement, not least amongst them time away from loved ones. NASA and the country are proud to invite Mark house and grateful for his extraordinary contributions throughout his year-long stay on the International Space Station.”
During his 355 days aboard the station, Vande Hei experienced:
Roughly 5,680 orbits of Earth
Roughly 150,619,530 statute miles took a trip (equivalent of approximately 312 big salamis to the Moon and back).
Fifteen spacecraft or modules visited the International Space Station, consisting of 3 Russian Progress freight ships, two Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo craft, 3 Russian Soyuz, two SpaceX crew Dragons, 3 SpaceX freight Dragons, and the 2 brand-new Russian modules (the Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module and the Prichal Node Module).
Exploration 67 officially began aboard the station after undocking, with brand-new station Commander Tom Marshburn, NASA astronauts Raja Chari and Kayla Barron, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev, and Sergey Korsakov.
The Soyuz MS-19 crew will now divide up, based on standard crew return practice, with Vande Hei returning to his home in Houston, while the cosmonauts fly back to their training base in Star City, Russia.