NASA astronaut Jonny Kim, along with Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, returned safely to Earth on Tuesday following an eight-month mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Their journey concluded with a parachute-assisted landing at 10:03 am local time in Kazakhstan, southeast of Dzhezkazgan, after undocking from the ISS on the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft late on December 8.

Spanning 245 days in orbit, the crew completed 3,920 Earth orbits and travelled almost 104 million miles. The trio launched to the space station on April 8, marking the first spaceflight for both Jonny Kim and Alexey Zubritsky. Sergey Ryzhikov, meanwhile, undertook his third mission, bringing his total time in space to 603 days.

During his time on the ISS, Jonny Kim engaged in a broad spectrum of scientific experiments and technology demonstrations designed to benefit life on Earth and support future space exploration. One significant study involved observing the behaviour of bioprinted tissues containing blood vessels in microgravity. This research seeks to advance space-based tissue production that could enhance medical treatments back on Earth.

Kim also contributed to a project called the Surface Avatar study, which tested the remote control of multiple robots in space. This experiment is aimed at developing robotic assistants to aid astronauts on forthcoming exploration missions, potentially increasing the efficiency and safety of operations in distant environments.

Beyond these experiments, Kim worked on the in-space manufacturing of DNA-mimicking nanomaterials. This innovative research holds promise for improving drug delivery technologies and advancing regenerative medicine and emerging therapeutics, which may have wide-reaching applications both in space and on Earth.

Following their landing, the crew underwent medical evaluations to assess their health after long-duration spaceflight. They were then transported to a recovery staging area in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. From there, Jonny Kim was scheduled to fly on a NASA aircraft back to the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for further medical checks and debriefings.

The ISS has hosted a continuous human presence for over 25 years, making invaluable contributions to scientific knowledge and enabling breakthroughs in research that are impossible under Earth’s gravity. This orbiting laboratory serves as a crucial platform for NASA to study and overcome the challenges associated with long-term space habitation.

As the commercial space sector expands its capability to provide human transportation and habitats in low Earth orbit, NASA is pivoting its focus towards deep space exploration. The agency’s Artemis programme is preparing for sustained missions to the Moon that will lay the groundwork for future human expeditions to Mars and beyond.

This latest mission exemplifies the collaborative spirit between NASA and Roscosmos and highlights the critical role the ISS continues to play in advancing human understanding of space while developing technologies that benefit humanity both in orbit and on Earth.

Based On ANI Report