Astronaut Jonny Kim, along with 2 cosmonauts, set to depart for ISS

Dec. 5 Astronaut Jonny Kim, along with Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, are set to depart the International Space Station (ISS) Monday evening, with their landing in Kazakhstan scheduled for the following morning. The crew will undock from the ISS's Prichal module at 8:41 p.m. EST on Monday and land southeast of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, at 10:04 a.m. local time, according to NASA.

The three astronauts arrived at the ISS in April aboard the Soyuz-27 spacecraft, which launched from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome. They will return to Earth in the same spacecraft, covering the 262-mile journey back.

After landing, the crew will be transported by helicopter to Karaganda, Kazakhstan, to meet their recovery teams. Kim will then fly to Houston via NASA aircraft, while Ryzhikov and Zubritsky will travel to Roscosmos' training facility in Star City, Russia. NASA will broadcast the return live on NASA+, the NASA YouTube channel, Amazon Prime, and multiple social media platforms.

Their departure will conclude Ryzhikovs command of the ISS, which will be handed over to NASA astronaut Mark Fincke in a ceremony at 10:30 a.m. EST Sunday. This ceremony will also be streamed live by NASA.

During their 245-day mission, Kim, Ryzhikov, and Zubritsky orbited the Earth 3,920 times and traveled nearly 104 million miles. The mission marks Ryzhikov's third visit to the ISS, while it is the first for Kim and Zubritsky.

The ISS has been hosting international crews for over 25 years, advancing scientific research that cannot be conducted on Earth. Recently, the station had all eight docking ports in use for the first time, and in September, the crew successfully docked Northrop Grumman's Cygnus XL Cargo Craft, which was delayed due to thruster issues, carrying 11,000 pounds of supplies and research equipment.

Author: Jackson Miller