NASA astronaut Chris Williams, together with Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev, reached the International Space Station on Thursday after launching only hours earlier from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
Their Soyuz MS 28 spacecraft lifted off at 2:27 PM local time (4:27 AM ET) from Launch Pad 31. The crew completed a quick three-hour flight that covered two orbits before docking with Station’s Rassvet module at 7:34 AM ET.
Once the hatch opens, expected around 10:10 AM, the new crew members will join Expedition 73. Waiting to greet them are NASA astronauts Mike Fincke, Zena Cardman, and Jonny Kim, along with JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov, Alexey Zubritsky, and Oleg Platonov.
Upcoming Crew Rotations
| Name / Agency | Crew Mission | Expected Return |
|---|---|---|
| Jonny Kim — NASA | Soyuz MS-27 | December 2025 (planned, date TBA) |
| Sergey Ryzhikov — Roscosmos | Soyuz MS-27 | December 2025 (planned, date TBA) |
| Alexey Zubritsky — Roscosmos | Soyuz MS-27 | December 2025 (planned, date TBA) |
| Zena Cardman — NASA | SpaceX Crew-11 Dragon (Endeavour) | February 2026 (planned, date TBA) |
| Mike Fincke — NASA | SpaceX Crew-11 Dragon (Endeavour) | February 2026 (planned, date TBA) |
| Kimiya Yui — JAXA | SpaceX Crew-11 Dragon (Endeavour) | February 2026 (planned, date TBA) |
| Oleg Platonov — Roscosmos | SpaceX Crew-11 Dragon (Endeavour) | February 2026 (planned, date TBA) |
| Chris Williams — NASA | Soyuz MS-28 | Summer 2026 (about eight months after arrival) |
| Sergey Kud-Sverchkov — Roscosmos | Soyuz MS-28 | Summer 2026 (about eight months after arrival) |
| Sergei Mikaev — Roscosmos | Soyuz MS-28 | Summer 2026 (about eight months after arrival) |
Return windows are based on current NASA mission pages and ISS blog updates and are always subject to change for spacecraft traffic, vehicle health, and weather.
NASA astronaut Jonny Kim is expected to return to Earth in December 2025. He launched to ISS on April 8, 2025, as part of Expedition 72/73, and will complete his nearly eight-month mission next month.
Cardman and the Crew 11 crew members, Michael Fincke, Kimiya Yui, and Oleg Platonov are expected to return in February after Crew 12 arrives from Florida no earlier than February 15, 2026. That mission’s launch date was recently adjusted to the earliest possible opportunity in 2026 to accommodate other launch windows, namely Artemis II.
Williams, Kud Sverchkov and Mikaev are expected to remain aboard ISS for eight months, returning sometime in summer of next year.
Author: Charles Boyer
NASA kid from Cocoa Beach, FL, born of Project Apollo parents and family. I’m a writer and photographer sharing the story of spaceflight from the Eastern Range here in Florida.
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