Russian Crew Returns from Record-Breaking ISS Stay

MOSCOW — A Russian space capsule carrying three astronauts, including two who completed a record-long stay on the International Space Station, undocked from the orbiting laboratory on Monday. The capsule, carrying Russians Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub and American Tracy Dyson, is expected to land in the vast Kazakhstan steppe about 3 1/2 hours after the undocking.

Kononenko and Chub launched to the space station on Sept. 15, 2023, and on Friday set the record for the longest continuous mission on the ISS. Dyson, on her third space mission, spent six months aboard.

Eight astronauts remain on the space station, including Americans Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have remained long past their scheduled return to Earth. They arrived in June as the first crew of Boeing’s new Starliner capsule, but their trip was plagued by thruster issues and helium leaks. NASA deemed it too risky to return them on Starliner.