NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and two Russian cosmonauts have safely returned to Earth after a six-month stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
Rubins, Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov returned aboard a Soyuz spacecraft, landing in Kazakhstan at around 1 a.m. ET (11 a.m. Kazakhstan time) on Saturday, April 17.
All three were quickly extracted from the spacecraft and are now undergoing routine health checks.
During her six-month time aboard the space station, Rubins took part in two spacewalks, voted in the U.S. presidential election, and worked on a range of experiments.
The three astronauts experienced 2,960 orbits of Earth and traveled a total of 78.4 million miles during their half-year mission.
This was Rubins’ second spaceflight, with 300 cumulative days spent in space. Ryzhikov has now completed his second spaceflight, with 358 cumulative days, while Kud-Sverchkov has finished his first spaceflight.
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