After spending nearly eight months away from Earth, NASA astronaut Chris Williams is home again.
Williams returned from the International Space Station on July 26, 2026, landing in Kazakhstan with Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev. The three crew members traveled home aboard the Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft, which made a parachute-assisted landing southeast of Dzhezkazgan.
Their return brought an eventful 241-day journey in space to an end.
More Than 100 Million Miles Traveled
Williams, Kud-Sverchkov and Mikaev began their journey on November 27, 2025, when Soyuz MS-28 launched them to the International Space Station.
By the time they returned, the crew had completed 3,856 orbits around Earth and traveled more than 102 million miles.
For Williams, the flight was especially significant. It was his first trip to space after being selected as a NASA astronaut candidate in 2021. Mikaev was also completing his first spaceflight, while Kud-Sverchkov was returning from his second.
Science Was a Major Part of the Mission
Life aboard the ISS involves much more than watching Earth pass beneath the station.
Williams spent a significant part of his mission supporting scientific investigations and technology experiments. Among them was research aimed at improving cancer treatments — a particularly fitting area for Williams, who worked as a medical physicist before becoming an astronaut.
He also contributed to research involving materials used in high-performance computers and electronics. Conducting this kind of work in microgravity gives researchers conditions that cannot easily be reproduced in laboratories on Earth.
The results can have applications on Earth while also helping scientists understand what will be needed for much longer journeys into deep space.
Two Spacewalks Outside the Station
Williams' first mission also took him outside the International Space Station.
He completed two spacewalks during his time in orbit, spending a total of 14 hours and 22 minutes working outside the station.
One of those spacewalks helped prepare the ISS power system for upgrades. During another, Williams helped replace a faulty joint on Canadarm2, the station's robotic arm.
For a first-time space traveler, that added another major milestone to an already busy mission.
Back on Earth
After leaving the space station, Soyuz MS-28 carried the crew back through Earth's atmosphere before landing safely on the Kazakh steppe.
Recovery teams met the astronauts and cosmonauts after touchdown. Following the usual post-flight medical checks, Williams was scheduled to return to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Coming home after 241 days in microgravity also begins another part of the mission: readjusting to life under Earth's gravity.
Williams returns with 241 days in space, thousands of trips around the planet and two spacewalks behind him — all from his first spaceflight.
The research he and his crewmates carried out will continue long after their landing. Work aboard the International Space Station remains an important part of understanding how humans can live and work away from Earth, knowledge that will be increasingly valuable as future missions travel farther toward the Moon and Mars.
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