This Thursday, Oct. 4, three astronauts, the crew of Expedition 56, will be coming back home to Earth after a 197-day mission in space. During that time the team completed 3,152 orbits of Earth and a 83.4 million mile journey. The astronauts took part in several experiments, including physics and biological studies. They also conducted tests to expand navigational capabilities. The knowledge gathered from the tests will be put to use for future travel far from Earth.

Out of the three astronauts, two of them, Feustel and Arnold, are NASA astronauts, and the third, Artemyev, is a Russian astronaut. After the crew lands they will take a helicopter to the recovery staging city in Kazakhstan. There, the astronauts will part ways, the NASA astronauts traveling on a NASA plane to Houston, and Artemyev traveling back to his home in Star City, Russia.

“Expedition 56 Commander Drew Feustel (right) and Flight Engineer Ricky Arnold (left) of NASA, along with Flight Engineer and Soyuz Commander Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos (center) will return to Earth on Oct. 4, after 197 days in space.

Credits: NASA” NASA.gov