Last week, we addressed some concerns about just how and when one of the International Space Station (ISS) astronauts would return to Earth from the ISS. Under normal circumstances, a return trip on Soyuz wouldn’t even be a question, but with the war in Ukraine and Russia’s ongoing sanctions against opposing countries, we had to rely on NASA’s reassurance that everything would be fine and that there are backup plans in place.

With all of that in mind, on March 24, NASA announced the planned coverage for the return of Soyuz MS-19, where American astronaut Mark Vande Hei will be returning with two Russian astronauts, Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Shkaplerov. Dubrov and Vande Hei will be returning after 355 continuous days in space, which set a new record for American astronauts by fifteen days.

The first event will be the morning of March 29 when the current ISS commander, Anton Shkaplerov, will transfer command of the ISS to NASA astronaut Thomas Marshburn in a symbolic change of command ceremony at 13:45 UTC. Just under nine hours later at 02:30 UTC on the 30th, there will be three events: hatch closure at 12:00 UTC, undocking at 03:21 UTC, and the deorbit burn followed by the landing at 07:28 UTC in Kazakhstan.

More Information

NASA press release