03/30/2022

Soyuz MS-19 Spacecraft Safely Returns back to Earth Expedition 65/66 Space Crew

Three Optolink's TRS-500 fiber-optic gyroscopes, installed into control system of Descent Module of the latest Soyuz modification, Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft, successfully executed their mission during landing. in Kazakhstan on 30 March 2022, at 11:28 UTC (16:28 local time, 07:28 EDT). The landing module safely landed on-target about 147 kilometers southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan. The crew of the 65/66  long-term expedition consisting ROSCOSMOS cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov as well as NASA astronaut Mark Vande returned to Earth. All descent operations and landing went normally and the crew is feeling well. Dubrov and Vande Hei spent 355 days in space, having launched last April on the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft to the station. Vande Hei set an American record for the longest single spaceflight.  Vande Hei has spent 523 days in space over two missions, third among American astronauts. During Dubrov and Vande Hei's extended stay on orbit, they were members of three expedition crews (64, 65 and 66). They shared the space station with 22 crewmates, including short-stay visits by two Japanese tourists and a Russian film crew, the latter there to shoot scenes for the still-to-released movie "The Challenge" (Shkaplerov arrived at the space station with the actress and director in October.) Dubrov also conducted four spacewalks, including one with Shkaplerov, to prepare for the arrival and later outfit two new Russian modules, the "Nauka" multi-purpose laboratory and "Prichal" node.