NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara’s safe return to Earth marked the culmination of an eventful and productive six-month research mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday. Alongside Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy and Belarus spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya, O’Hara departed the space station aboard the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft at 11:54 p.m. EDT on April 5. Their successful parachute-assisted landing occurred at 3:17 a.m. on April 6 (12:17 p.m. Kazakhstan time), southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan.
This return journey was a significant milestone for O’Hara, who launched on September 15, 2023, alongside Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub. While Kononenko and Chub continue their one-year mission aboard the space station, Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya, O’Hara’s companions on the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft, launched on March 23. Tracy C. Dyson, a NASA astronaut, also launched with them and will remain aboard the ISS until this fall.
During her first spaceflight, O’Hara spent a remarkable 204 days in space. Novitskiy, with a total of 545 days across four spaceflights, and Vasilevskaya, with 14 days in space during her first spaceflight, also contributed significantly to the mission’s success. O’Hara’s mission was integral to NASA’s Artemis campaign, focusing on lunar exploration and laying the groundwork for future crewed missions to Mars.
Throughout her time aboard the ISS, O’Hara engaged in a diverse range of scientific activities. These included crucial investigations into heart health, cancer treatments, and space manufacturing techniques. Her contributions advanced our understanding of the effects of long-duration spaceflight on the human body and helped pave the way for future exploration beyond Earth’s orbit.
Following their post-landing medical checks, the crew will return to the recovery staging city in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. From there, O’Hara will board a NASA plane bound for her return to the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
With the departure of the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft carrying O’Hara, Novitskiy, and Vasilevskaya, Expedition 71 officially commenced aboard the ISS. This expedition comprises a team of NASA astronauts including Michael Barratt, Matthew Dominick, Tracy C. Dyson, and Jeannette Epps, alongside Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin, and Oleg Kononenko. They will continue to conduct vital research and maintain operations on the orbiting laboratory until this fall.
Feature Image Credit: NASA
