US, Russian, Belarus ISS colleagues return to Earth

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This handout photograph taken and released by NASA on April 6, 2024, shows (From L) Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy and Belarus spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya inside the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft after landing in a remote area near the town of Dzytzkazgan (Zhezkazgan), Kazakhstan. (Photo by Bill INGALLS / NASA / AFP)

A NASA astronaut, a Russian cosmonaut and Belarus’s first ever space traveller on Saturday returned to Earth safely after a fortnight aboard the International Space Station, Russia’s Roscosmos agency reported.

“Today, at 10:17am Moscow time (0717 GMT), the descent vehicle of Sozuz MS-24 manned spacecraft landed near the Kazakh city of Jezkazgan,” Roscosmos reported.

“The (vessel’s) deorbit and its descent to Earth went off normally,” the agency added.

Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky and the first ever Belarusian cosmonaut, Marina Vassilevskaya, “spent 14 days in orbit”, while American astronaut Loral O’Hara completed a 204-day mission.

For Vassilevskaya and O’Hara it was their first ever stint on the ISS.

This handout photograph taken and released by Russian Space Agency Roscosmos on April 6, 2024, shows NASA astronaut Loral OíHara, shortly after the landing of the Soyuz MS-24 space capsule, carrying the International Space Station (ISS) crew, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky, NASA astronaut Loral OíHara and the first Belarus woman in space Marina Vasilevskaya, in a remote area outside Dzhezkazgan (Zhezkazgan), Kazakhstan. (Photo by Russian Space Agency Roscosmos / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released by Russian Space Agency Roscosmos on April 6, 2024, shows the Soyuz MS-24 space capsule carrying the International Space Station (ISS) crew of Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky, NASA astronaut Loral OíHara and the first Belarus woman in space Marina Vasilevskaya, landing in a remote area outside Dzhezkazgan (Zhezkazgan), Kazakhstan. (Photo by Russian Space Agency Roscosmos / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released by NASA on April 6, 2024, shows Roscosmos’ Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky giving a thumbs up as he is helped out of the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft shortly after landing with other crew of the International Space Station (ISS), NASA astronaut Loral OíHara and Belarus spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya, in a remote area outside Dzhezkazgan (Zhezkazgan), Kazakhstan. (Photo by Bill INGALLS / NASA / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released by NASA on April 6, 2024, shows Belarus spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya outside the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft after landing with other astronauts, Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, in a remote area near the town of Dzytzkazgan (Zhezkazgan), Kazakhstan. (Photo by Bill INGALLS / NASA / AFP)

In a statement, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko congratulated the crew for the safe return from their mission.

The spacecraft took off from the Baikonur space port in Kazakhstan on March 23 after a two-day delay following a hitch in pre-launch preparations — a temporary but high-profile setback for Russia’s space programme that has been hit by financial problems, scandal, corruption and failure.

One recent setback was the loss of the robotic Luna-25 spacecraft in a crash on the Moon last August.

Russian-Western space cooperation has been hit by Russia’s assault on Ukraine, which began in February 2022, and the international sanctions that followed.

The ISS is one rare abiding sphere of cooperation between Moscow and Washington.

But Russia’s space sector is hamstrung by a lack of innovation with many of its systems reliant upon Soviet era technology — for the most part reliable but ageing.

It also has to stand up to increased competition from private companies such as billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

© Agence France-Presse