\n<\/p>\n
NASA astronaut Loral O\u2019Hara returned to Earth after a six-month research mission aboard the International Space Station on Saturday, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and Belarus spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya.<\/p>\n
The trio departed the space station aboard the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft at 11:54 p.m. EDT on April 5, and made a safe, parachute-assisted landing at 3:17 a.m., April 6 (12:17 p.m. Kazakhstan time), southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Hara launched Sept. 15, 2023, alongside Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub, who both will remain aboard the space station to complete a one-year mission. Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya launched aboard Soyuz MS-25 on March 23 along with NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson, who will remain aboard the orbiting laboratory until this fall.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Hara spent a total of 204 days in space as part of her first spaceflight. Novitskiy has logged a total of 545 days in space across four spaceflights and Vasilevskaya has spent 14 days in space as part of her first spaceflight.<\/p>\n
Supporting NASA\u2019s Artemis campaign, O\u2019Hara\u2019s mission helped prepare for exploration of the Moon and build foundations for crewed missions to Mars. She completed approximately 3,264 orbits of the Earth and a journey of more than 86.5 million miles. O\u2019Hara worked on scientific activities aboard the space station, including investigating heart health, cancer treatments, and space manufacturing techniques during her stay aboard the orbiting laboratory.<\/p>\n
Following post-landing medical checks, the crew will return to the recovery staging city in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. O\u2019Hara will then board a NASA plane bound for her return to the agency\u2019s Johnson Space Center in Houston.<\/p>\n
With the undocking of the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft with O\u2019Hara, Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya, Expedition 71 officially began aboard the station. NASA astronauts Michael Barratt, Matthew Dominick, Tracy C. Dyson, and Jeannette Epps, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub,\u00a0Alexander Grebenkin, and Oleg Kononenko make up Expedition 71 and will remain on the orbiting laboratory until this fall.<\/p>\n
Learn more about space station activities by following @space_station<\/a> and @ISS_Research<\/a> on X, as well as the ISS Facebook, ISS Instagram, and the space station blog.<\/p>\n -end-<\/p>\n Joshua Finch \/ Julian Coltre \/ Claire O\u2019Shea Sandra Jones
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov \/ julian.n.coltre@nasa.gov \/ claire.a.o\u2019shea@nasa.gov<\/p>\n
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov<\/p>\n<\/div>\n