Soyuz MS-25

Soyuz MS-25, Russian production No. 756 and identified by NASA as Soyuz 71S, was a Russian crewed Soyuz spaceflight from Baikonur Cosmodrome to the International Space Station.

Crew

MS-25 saw was the first launch of two women, Tracy Caldwell-Dyson from the United States and Maryna Vasileuskaya from Belarus, aboard a Soyuz spacecraft. MS-25 also saw the launch of two people from Belarus, as the mission commander, Oleg Novitsky was born in Chervyen, when it was part of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Flight

It was originally scheduled for launch on 21 March 2024, but due to a voltage drop in one of the power generators, the launch was aborted. The second launch attempt on 23 March 2024 was successful.
Caldwell-Dyson spent approximately six months aboard the International Space Station. Novitsky and Vasileuskaya of Belarus spent approximately 13 days aboard the orbital complex as a part of List of visiting expeditions to [the International Space Station|21st ISS visiting expedition] before returning aboard Soyuz MS-24.

Undocking and Return

At the end of Expedition 71, Caldwell-Dyson returned to Earth on Soyuz MS-25 with Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub on 23 September 2024. They arrived with NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara on Soyuz MS-24 on 15 September 2023. O'Hara returned to Earth on MS-24 with Novitsky and Vasileuskaya. Kononenko and Chub remained aboard the orbital laboratory for a year. As the mission lasted 374 days, Kononenko spent a total of 1,111 days in space by the time he returned to Earth. He broke the world record of 878 days in space held by Gennady Padalka on February 4, 2024 at 07:30:08 UTC. He later became the first person to stay 900, 1,000, and 1,100 days in space on 25 February 2024, 4 June 2024, and 12 September 2024 respectively.