Expedition 63 crew returns back to Earth after 196-day space mission

While on the station, Expedition 63 commander Cassidy welcomed SpaceX Demo-2 crew members Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley of NASA. Thereafter Cassidy and Behnken conducted four spacewalks, totaling 23 hours and 37 minutes, to upgrade station batteries.

Expedition 63 commander and NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy along with his crewmates Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner of the Russian space agency Roscosmos have successfully returned to Earth after spending 196 days in space.

The crew departed the International Space Station (ISS) at 7:32 p.m. EDT Wednesday and safely landed in Kazakhstan at 10:54 pm ET.

Finally home 😎@Astro_SEAL and his crewmates are all smiles after having exited the Soyuz spacecraft. They will be on their way home soon, having completed their mission aboard the @Space_Station: pic.twitter.com/hGHtY8mqBe

— NASA (@NASA) October 22, 2020

While on the station, Expedition 63 commander Cassidy welcomed SpaceX Demo-2 crew members Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley of NASA. Thereafter Cassidy and Behnken conducted four spacewalks, totaling 23 hours and 37 minutes, to upgrade station batteries.

Further, he contributed to hundreds of experiments including a study of the influence of gravity on electrolytic gas evolution and also worked with Astrobee, cube-shaped, free-flying robots

During his time on board the @Space_Station over the past six months, @Astro_SEAL conducted four spacewalks — bringing his total to 10 over the course of his career. He is now tied for most spacewalks by @NASA_Astronauts. pic.twitter.com/zN7iWk7CgY

— NASA (@NASA) October 21, 2020

Before returning to Earth, Cassidy handed over the space station command to Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov of the Expedition 64 with NASA's Kate Rubins and Roscosmos' Sergey Kud-Sverchkov serving as flight engineers.

The Expedition 64 will welcome NASA's SpaceX Crew-1 that includes NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker, and Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi in November. Crew-1 will be the first long-duration mission to fly as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program.