RETURN OF SOYUZ MS-18 FROM ISS, Oct 16-17, 2021, Kazakhstan

The Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft will undock from the International Space Station on October 16 and land in Kazakhstan on October 17, 2021 EDT.

• Hatch closing: ~4:35 pm ET, October 16 (NASA TV begins 4:15 pm ET)
• Undocking: 9:13 pm EDT, October 16 (NASA TV begins 9:00 pm ET)
• Landing: 12:36 am EDT, October 17 (NASA TV begins 11:15 pm ET October 16)

The three people on Soyuz MS-18 for its return are:

• Oleg Novitsky, professional cosmonaut, Roscosmos (who arrived on Soyuz MS-18 on April 9)
• Klim Shipenko, film director (who arrived on Soyuz MS-19 on October 5)
• Yulia Peresild, actress (who arrived on Soyuz MS-19 on October 5)

Russian cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, who arrived on Soyuz MS-18 in April with Novitsky, are remaining for another 6 months because their seats were needed for Shipenko and Peresild’s return. Their mission now will last a total of 353 days, with Vande Hei setting a new continuous duration record for a U.S. astronaut (Scott Kelly currently holds that record at 340 days). Both knew before they launched that the mission extension was likely.

Anton Shkaplerov, who commanded the Soyuz MS-19 mission, is replacing Novitsky and will remain with Dubrov and Vande Hei.