A crew of four astronauts, including a Russian, departed the International Space Station on Monday, returning to the United States after a mission that lasted about six months in space. The crew joined the station at the end of August aboard a SpaceX "Dragon" capsule to complete a routine mission for NASA named "Crew-7."
The mission was led by American astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, alongside Danish Andreas Mogensen, Japanese Satoshi Furukawa, and Russian Konstantin Borisov. Moghbeli, who noted that "Crew-7" was her first space mission, praised the international cooperation that allowed for the establishment of the International Space Station after the end of the Cold War. She said, "It is proof of what can be achieved when we work together."
Despite the diplomatic tensions between Washington and Moscow since the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, cooperation between the American and Russian space agencies continues at the International Space Station, which remains one of the few areas of collaboration left between the two parties.
The four astronauts are expected to land in waters off the Florida coast starting at 09:35 GMT on Tuesday. The crew conducted scientific research during the six months they spent in space, studying, for example, the role of microgravity's effects on accelerating aging in liver regeneration. "Crew-7" is the seventh regular crew rotation mission to the International Space Station conducted by SpaceX, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, on behalf of NASA. Crew "Crew-8" had arrived at the station on March 5th.
