Three astronauts will be departing from the International Space Station tomorrow. NASA‘s Jonny Kim along with Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky are scheduled to leave for Earth at 7:11 am IST on December 9 [8:41 pm EDT, Dec 8] in the MS-27 Soyuz spacecraft, which took them to the orbital outpost in April.
Watch @AstroIronMike accept command of the station today one day before @JonnyKimUSA and two Roscosmos cosmonauts return to Earth completing an eight-month space research mission. https://t.co/iIuqLMaajF
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) December 7, 2025
According to NASA, the spacecraft will make a parachute-assisted landing in Kazakhstan three-and-a-half hours after undocking from the station’s Prichal module at 9:34 am IST [12:04 am EDT].
Ryzhikov, who was serving as the station commander, has handed over a symbolic key, representing command of the orbital outpost, to NASA’s Mike Fincke, a veteran of four spaceflights. With MS-27’s conclusion, Ryzhikov will complete his third space mission whereas Kim and Zubritsky their first.
How to watch the MS-27 landing?
NASA will provide the live coverage of MS-27’s farewell and hatch closing ceremony starting 2:15 am IST [4:45 pm EDT] on NASA+, Amazon Prime and its YouTube channel.
The second coverage of undocking will begin at 5:45 am IST [8:15 pm EDT] and the deorbit and landing coverage will begin at 8 am IST [10:30 pm EDT].
The MS-27 mission
The MS-27 mission is ending after eight months. Its crew will return after spending 245 days in space and they’ll complete 3,920 orbits of Earth before the Soyuz capsule lands on Earth, says NASA. After landing in Karaganda, Kazakhstan, Kim will board a plane to Houston, Texas, while Ryzhikov and Zubritsky will depart for their training base in Star City, Moscow.
The MS-27 crew has been succeeded by MS-28 astronauts – NASA’s Chris Williams and Roscosmos‘s Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev – who reached the station on November 27 (thanksgiving). The MS-28 mission created a lot of buzz due to the mishap that occurred at the Baikonur launch pad. A 20 metric ton servicing platform which should have been secured and moved away from beneath the rocket got blasted by the plumes and ended up collapsing. This accident has crippled Russia’s ability to launch rockets for now since it was the only active site.
With MS-27 crew’s return, the number of astronauts will drop to seven. Their departure will also free up one of the space station’s eight docking ports, all of which have been occupied for the first time ever.
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