KOROLEV (Moscow region), September 27. The descent module of the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft landed in the steppes of Kazakhstan, Russians Sergei Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin and the American Francisco Rubio returned to Earth, having set a record for staying on the ISS, a correspondent from the Mission Control Center near Moscow reported.
The landing took place southeast of the city of Zhezkazgan. At 10:55 Moscow time, Soyuz MS-23 undocked from the International Space Station, and a few hours later began deorbiting. The ship was divided into sections, and the descent module with the crew entered the dense layers of the Earth's atmosphere.
This was Prokopyev’s second flight; Petelin and Rubio were in orbit for the first time. By the time of landing, the crew had spent 371 days in space. This is the longest flight under the ISS program.
The crew of the 70th long-term expedition remains at the station: Russians Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub and Konstantin Borisov, Americans Jasmine Moghbeli and Loral O'Hara, Dane Andreas Mogensen and Japanese Satoshi Furukawa.
Prokopyev, Petelin and Rubio were delivered to the ISS on September 21 last year by the Russian Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft. On December 15, after a micrometeorite hit, the Soyuz cooling system depressurized. The crew was forced to stay on the ISS for another six months: experts decided that returning astronauts on such a ship was dangerous. The Soyuz MS-23 was sent to replace the damaged ship.