Astronaut Jonny Kim, 2 cosmonauts scheduled for ISS departure

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United Press International
Astronaut Jonny Kim, 2 cosmonauts scheduled for ISS departure
Mike Heuer
Fri, December 5, 2025 at 5:57 PM EST
2 min read



NASA astronaut Jonny Kim (L), and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov (C), and Alexey Zubritskiy are scheduled to depart the International Space Station on Monday, ending their 245-day mission. Photo by Joel Kowsky/NASA/UPI


Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Astronaut Jonny Kim and two Roscosmos cosmonauts are scheduled to depart the International Space Station on Monday evening and land in Kazakhstan the following morning.

Kim and cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexy Zubritsky will undock from the ISS's Prichal module at 8:41 p.m. EST on Monday and undergo a parachute-assisted landing southeast of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, at 10:04 a.m. local time, NASA announced on Thursday.

They arrived at the ISS aboard a Soyuz-27 spacecraft in April after launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and will return on the same spacecraft, covering the 262 miles to Earth.

Upon landing, the trio will be flown via helicopter to Karaganda, Kazakhstan, to join their respective recovery teams.

A NASA aircraft will convey Kim to Houston, while Ryzhikov and Zubritsky will travel to the Roscosmos training base in Star City, Russia.

NASA will stream the event on NASA+, the NASA YouTube channel, Amazon Prime and several social media platforms.

Their departure ends Ryzhikov's command of the ISS, which he is scheduled to turn over to NASA astronaut Mark Fincke during a ceremony scheduled at 10:30 a.m. EST on Sunday.

NASA also will stream the change-of-command ceremony.

Kim, Ryzhikov and Zubritsky are approaching the end of their 245-day mission aboard the ISS, during which they will have orbited Earth 3,920 times and traveled nearly 104 million miles.

The deployment is Ryzhikov's third at the ISS and the first for Kim and Zubritsky.

The ISS has hosted international space crews for more than 25 years as they work to advance scientific knowledge by conducting research that is not possible on Earth.

The ISS recently had all eight of its docking ports occupied for the first time, and its crew in September managed to dock Northrup Grumman's Cygnus XL Cargo Craft after thruster problems delayed its arrival while carrying 11,000 pounds of cargo and scientific equipment to the ISS.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/astronaut-jonny-kim-2-cosmonauts-225756634.html