Moscow. A NASA astronaut, a Russian and a Belarusian cosmonaut landed safely on Earth on Saturday after a stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS), the Russian agency Roscosmos announced.
“Today at 07:17 GMT the descent vehicle of the Soyuz MS-24 manned spacecraft landed near the Kazakh city of Jezkazgan,” Roscosmos said.
“The exit from orbit (of the ship) and its descent to Earth took place normally,” the Russian space agency said.
According to the press release, experienced Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitski and the first Belarusian cosmonaut in history, Marina Vasilevskaia, “spent 14 days in orbit,” while American astronaut Loral O’Hara returned from a 204-day mission.
For Vasilevskaia and O’Hara this was the first flight of their respective ISS careers.
In a press release released by his services, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko “congratulated the crew of the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft on their successful landing.”
Two weeks ago, the takeoff of the Soyuz spacecraft towards the ISS with Marina Vasilevskaia, 33, and Oleg Novitski on board was postponed for a few days, until March 23.
This postponement represented a new setback for the Russian space sector, which has been in trouble for years due to financing problems, corruption scandals and failures such as the loss of the Luna-25 lunar probe in August 2023.
The Russian space sector is now limited by its lack of innovation, and most of its systems rely on Soviet technologies, which are generally reliable but outdated.
It also faces increased competition from private companies, such as SpaceX, owned by billionaire Elon Musk.
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– 2024-04-20 08:51:01
