NASA astronaut Jonny Kim has returned to Earth, landing on Tuesday with Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky after completing an eight-month science mission aboard the International Space Station.
The crew made a safe, parachute-assisted landing at 4:03 p.m. AEDT, southeast of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan. They departed the station at 12:41 p.m. AEDT on 9 December aboard the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft.
During 245 days in orbit, the trio circled Earth 3,920 times and travelled nearly 104 million miles. Kim and Zubritsky were both on their first spaceflight, while Ryzhikov completed his third mission, bringing his total time in space to 603 days.
While living and working on the space station, Kim supported a wide range of scientific research and technology demonstrations. He examined the behaviour of bioprinted tissues containing blood vessels in microgravity, contributing to advances in space-based tissue production that may one day improve medical treatment on Earth. He also tested remote control of multiple robots in space for the Surface Avatar investigation, work that could shape the development of robotic assistants for future exploration missions. In addition, Kim helped progress research into producing DNA-mimicking nanomaterials in space, a field with potential to improve drug delivery technologies and support emerging therapeutics and regenerative medicine.
Following routine post-landing medical checks, the crew will travel to the recovery staging area in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. Kim will then fly aboard a NASA aircraft to the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
For more than 25 years, astronauts have lived and worked continuously on the International Space Station, enabling scientific discoveries not possible on Earth and helping NASA prepare for the challenges of long-duration spaceflight. As commercial companies expand their presence in low Earth orbit, NASA is shifting its resources toward deep space missions to the Moon under the Artemis program, paving the way for future human missions to Mars.
Image: The Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft is seen as it lands in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, with Expedition 73 NASA astronaut Jonny Kim, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov, and Alexey Zubritsky aboard, Dec. 9, 2025.
Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
