Washington DC [US], December 10 (ANI): NASA astronaut Jonny Kim, along with Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, returned to Earth on Tuesday, concluding an eight-month scientific mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS), NASA stated. The mission aimed to advance scientific research benefiting life on Earth and future space exploration.
The crew made a safe, parachute-assisted landing at 10:03 a.m. local time, southeast of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, after departing the ISS at 8:41 p.m. on December 8 aboard the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft. Over 245 days in space, the team orbited Earth 3,920 times, covering nearly 104 million miles. The mission marked the first spaceflight for Kim and Zubritsky, while Ryzhikov completed his third journey, logging a total of 603 days in space.
During their time on the orbiting laboratory, Kim contributed to a variety of scientific investigations and technology demonstrations. He studied the behavior of bioprinted tissues containing blood vessels in microgravity, advancing space-based tissue production for potential Earth-based treatments. Kim also evaluated remote control of multiple robots through the Surface Avatar study, supporting future robotic assistance in exploration missions, and worked on in-space manufacturing of DNA-mimicking nanomaterials to improve drug delivery and regenerative medicine technologies.
Following post-landing medical assessments, the crew will move to the recovery staging area in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. Kim will then travel aboard a NASA aircraft to the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
For over 25 years, the ISS has hosted continuous human presence in space, enabling scientific breakthroughs not possible on Earth. It remains a vital platform for NASA to prepare for long-duration missions and expand commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit. As private companies focus on human space transportation and orbital destinations, NASA is concentrating resources on deep-space missions to the Moon under the Artemis program, paving the way for future human missions to Mars.
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