NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, crewmembers safely return to Earth from ISS

Expedition 49 crew members return to Earth (Image courtesy: NASA)

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Expedition 49 crew members which included Kate Rubins, Anatoly Ivanishin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos and Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency safely touched down on Earth after a successful mission aboard the International Space Station.

Rubins, who became the first person to sequence DNA in space, along with crewmates touched down in their Soyuz MS-01 at 11:58 p.m. EDT (9:58 a.m. Oct. 30, Kazakhstan time) southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan.

Rubins, who has a degree in molecular biology, contributed to several new studies taking place for the first time aboard the space station, including the Biomolecule Sequencer experiment.

During her time on the orbiting complex, Rubins ventured outside the confines of the station for two spacewalks. During the first one on Aug. 19, she and NASA astronaut Jeff Williams installed the first international docking adapter.

During her second spacewalk Sept. 1, Rubins and Williams retracted a spare thermal control radiator and installed two new high-definition cameras.

Together, the Expedition 49 crew members contributed to hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science aboard the world-class orbiting laboratory during their 115 days in space.

The trio also welcomed three cargo spacecraft delivering several tons of supplies and research experiments.

Rubins was involved in the grapple of Orbital ATK’s Cygnus spacecraft to the station in October, the company's sixth contracted commercial resupply mission, and SpaceX’s Dragon ninth contracted mission in July.

One Russian ISS Progress cargo spacecraft also docked to the station in July.

Rubins and Onishi have each spent a total of 115 days in space during their first mission. Ivanishin now has 280 days in space from two flights.