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Soyuz MS-28 brings three station crew members home

Soyuz MS-28 undocked from the International Space Station at 3:03 a.m. Eastern and touched down at 6:27 a.m. Recovery teams had all three travelers out of the capsule within half an hour.

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NASA's Space Launch System rocket lifting off for Artemis I.
NASA Image and Video Library - source

The story so far

  1. July 20: A milestone that began with two new signatures gained fresh visibility today through ESA’s account of the crew’s visit to its technical center. That connects Artemis diplomacy.
  2. July 21: No newer milestone displaced the 70-member mark; it moves behind today’s Falcon 9 update as continuing context.
  3. July 22: The fight moved from public opposition to a request for immediate judicial intervention.
  4. July 25: The fire moved from a regional emergency to an operational interruption for two spacecraft-communications facilities.
  5. July 26: The mission moved from scheduled return to a completed landing, with the capsule recovered and its occupants safely extracted.

Interpretation

Why this matters

Crew returns are the closing test of every station rotation. This one completed an eight-month expedition that included two spacewalks and research spanning cancer treatments and advanced electronic materials.

Known facts

  • Chris Williams, Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev landed in Kazakhstan after 241 days in space. Soyuz MS-28 undocked at 3:03 a.m. Eastern and touched down at 6:27 a.m.
  • NASA reviewed Chris Williams' eight-month ISS mission, including two spacewalks and research on targeted cancer treatments and advanced materials for computers and electronics.
  • NASA astronaut Chris Williams and two Russian cosmonauts returned to Earth from the International Space Station early Sunday morning (July 26).

Unknowns

  • Whether the target, status, webcast, or mission outcome changes again after the next public update.

Source status

What the sources actually say

Each claim is kept next to its source so the story never overstates what official evidence can actually prove.

Independent reporting

SpacePolicyOnline.com

Chris Williams, Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev landed in Kazakhstan after 241 days in space. Soyuz MS-28 undocked at 3:03 a.m. Eastern and touched down at 6:27 a.m.

Agency statement

NASA

NASA reviewed Chris Williams' eight-month ISS mission, including two spacewalks and research on targeted cancer treatments and advanced materials for computers and electronics.

Agency statement

Space.com

NASA astronaut Chris Williams and two Russian cosmonauts returned to Earth from the International Space Station early Sunday morning (July 26).

Independent reporting

SpacePolicyOnline.com

Chris Williams, Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev landed in Kazakhstan after 241 days in space. Soyuz MS-28 undocked at 3:03 a.m. Eastern and touched down at 6:27 a.m.

Open source
Agency statement

NASA

NASA reviewed Chris Williams' eight-month ISS mission, including two spacewalks and research on targeted cancer treatments and advanced materials for computers and electronics.

Open source
Agency statement

Space.com

NASA astronaut Chris Williams and two Russian cosmonauts returned to Earth from the International Space Station early Sunday morning (July 26).

Open source

Timeline

How the story has developed

A running record of what changed, when, and why. Editorial review Jul 26, 2026.

  1. July 20: This became the lead update after today's public launch records changed.
  2. July 20: A milestone that began with two new signatures gained fresh visibility today through ESA’s account of the crew’s visit to its technical center. That connects Artemis diplomacy.
  3. July 21: No newer milestone displaced the 70-member mark; it moves behind today’s Falcon 9 update as continuing context.
  4. July 22: The fight moved from public opposition to a request for immediate judicial intervention.
  5. July 25: The fire moved from a regional emergency to an operational interruption for two spacecraft-communications facilities.
  6. July 26: The mission moved from scheduled return to a completed landing, with the capsule recovered and its occupants safely extracted.

Corrections

  1. No corrections recorded.

No separate Starman's Note is needed yet.