The participants of the 21st visiting expedition returned from the International Space Station to Earth, 147km south-east of the Kazakh city of Jezkazgan.
Roscosmos Cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky, the first female cosmonaut from Belarus Marina Vasilevskaya and NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara returned from the International Space Station to Earth.
At 09:24 Moscow time, the engine of the Soyuz MS-24 manned spacecraft was turned on to decelerate from orbit, at 09:54 the descent vehicle entered the dense layers of the atmosphere and at 10:03 the main parachute was inserted.
At exactly 10:18 Moscow time, the Soyuz MS-24 international crew landed 147km south-east of the Kazakh city of Zhezkazgan.
Marina Vitalyevna Vasilevskaya (born 14 September 1990) is a flight instructor and flight attendant for Belavia Airlines in Belarus. She is the first Belarusian woman to be launched into space.
In December 2022, during a competitive selection held in Belarus, she was selected among six applicants from more than three thousand women to participate in a space flight under the “Belarusian Woman in Space” project on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to ISS.
On 24 July 2023, she commenced theoretical and practical training for the flight at the Yuri A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. In October, she began practical training on the Soyuz MS spacecraft simulator to conduct routine flight and undocking operations, and underwent training in zero gravity conditions on the Ilyushin II-76 laboratory aircraft.
She traveled to the station with Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky and NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell-Dyson, where she and Oleg spent approximately 13 days aboard the orbital complex as a part of 21st ISS visiting expedition.
Dr. Thomas Hughes is a UK-based scientist and science communicator who makes complex topics accessible to readers. His articles explore breakthroughs in various scientific disciplines, from space exploration to cutting-edge research.
