NASA astronaut Jonny Kim is preparing to wrap up more than eight months in orbit and head home from the International Space Station this week, riding the Russian Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft back to Earth alongside Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky.
When Jonny Kim and crew leave the space station
According to NASA’s latest schedule, the Soyuz MS-27 will undock from the station’s Prichal module at 20:41 EST on Monday, 8 December (03:41 on Tuesday, 9 December in South Africa), beginning a short free-flight phase before re-entry.
The capsule is due to make a parachute-assisted landing at 00:04 EST on Tuesday, 9 December (07:04 on Tuesday, 9 December in South Africa), on the Kazakh steppe southeast of Dzhezkazgan.
Ahead of departure, a change-of-command ceremony on board the ISS is scheduled for Sunday, 7 December at 10:30 EST (17:30 in South Africa), when Ryzhikov will hand station command to NASA astronaut Mike Fincke and Expedition 74 will formally begin at undocking.
Hatch closing for Soyuz MS-27 is planned for 17:10 EST on 8 December (00:10 on 9 December in South Africa).
What Jonny Kim’s mission has achieved
By the time Soyuz MS-27 lands, Kim, Ryzhikov and Zubritsky will have spent 245 days in space, orbiting Earth 3 920 times and travelling nearly 104 million miles as part of Expeditions 73 and 74.
This has been the first long-duration spaceflight for Jonny Kim and Alexey Zubritsky, while Sergey Ryzhikov is concluding his third mission to the ISS.
During their stay, the trio have supported a packed science programme, ranging from human-physiology experiments to technology demonstrations aimed at helping NASA prepare for longer missions under the Artemis campaign and, eventually, crewed journeys to Mars.
The station remains a key testbed for understanding how long-duration spaceflight affects the human body and for trying out systems that will be needed beyond low Earth orbit.
How to watch Jonny Kim’s return to Earth
NASA says live coverage of the return of Jonny Kim and his crewmates will run across several platforms, including NASA+, Amazon Prime and the agency’s YouTube channel.
Coverage of farewells and hatch closing is due to start at 16:45 EST on Monday, 8 December (23:45 in South Africa), with separate broadcasts for undocking, deorbit and landing through the night into Tuesday.
After touchdown, recovery forces will fly the crew by helicopter to Karaganda, Kazakhstan, where they will separate for their journeys home: Jonny Kim will board a NASA aircraft back to Houston, while Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky return to their training base in Star City, Russia.
For fans and followers of Jonny Kim, the Soyuz MS-27 landing will mark the end of his first orbital mission and the latest handover in the ISS’s 25-year record of continuous human presence in space.
