Soyuz MS-28 Returns Safely After Eight-Month Mission

The Soyuz MS-28 descent module touched down near Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, in the early hours of July 26, bringing home two Russian cosmonauts and one American astronaut after an extended stay aboard the International Space Station. Rescue teams were immediately deployed to the landing site, and the crew reported excellent health ahead of the landing.

Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, on his second spaceflight, and rookie fliers Sergey Mikaev and NASA’s Christopher Williams had been in orbit since November 27, 2025. The mission was originally slated to last 242 days and to include two spacewalks. The smooth return marks another successful data point for the long-standing ISS partnership between Roscosmos and NASA, which has weathered considerable political turmoil on the ground.

The flight was part of the broader “cross-flight” arrangement, under which Russian cosmonauts fly on American Crew Dragon spacecraft and US astronauts fly on Russian Soyuz capsules. This seat-swapping began formally with an agreement in July 2022, after earlier plans had been derailed by diplomatic tension and public back-and-forth between the agencies. Before 2020, Russia’s Soyuz was the sole crew transport to the ISS, giving Roscosmos a near-monopoly on human access to the orbital outpost.

The State of the US-Russia Space Partnership

The Cross-Flight Program Endures

The safe return of the Soyuz MS-28 crew demonstrates that the technical cooperation required to operate the ISS remains intact, even as diplomatic relations between Moscow and Washington are deeply strained. The 2022 cross-flight agreement was a pragmatic compromise designed to ensure that both sides maintain redundant human access to the station, avoiding a scenario where a single vehicle failure could strand crew members or interrupt science operations.

Why Redundant Access Still Matters

Although SpaceX’s Crew Dragon and Boeing’s Starliner (when operational) have given NASA independent crew launch capability, Russia’s reliance on US commercial crew for its own astronauts would be politically untenable at home. The cross-flights allow Roscosmos to keep its own cosmonauts on US spacecraft without admitting that Russian hardware is no longer essential—a delicate balance that serves both agencies’ operational and reputational interests. For NASA, the arrangement ensures continuous access to the ISS and maintains a channel of communication with Russian counterparts in an otherwise frozen relationship.

No Breakthrough, Just Business as Usual

The landing itself does not signal any new direction in the space partnership; it is routine mission closure. Former Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin had publicly dismissed talk of cross-flights in 2021, yet the subsequent agreement and now multiple such missions show that institutional necessity ultimately overrides individual rhetoric. The real test of the partnership will come after 2028, when the current ISS intergovernmental agreement is set to expire and Russia has floated plans for its own orbital station.