The Expedition 74 crew circled Earth thousands of times before returning to share stories from the International Space Station in Houston. NASA will welcome six astronauts and cosmonauts at a public event at 6 p.m. CST Tuesday, Nov. 17, at the visitor center for NASA’s Johnson Space Center, also known as Space Center Houston. A ceremony honoring people who contributed to the mission will follow.
The crew’s return came in two groups after months in orbit. NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway and Chris Williams will join European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev to talk about their work. NASA astronaut Chris Williams, Kud-Sverchkov and Mikaev launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard Soyuz MS-28 on Nov. 27, 2025. They landed southeast of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, on July 26, after 241 days in space. Their spacecraft made a parachute-assisted landing.
That trio orbited Earth 3,856 times and traveled more than 102 million miles. It was the first space mission for Williams and Mikaev, and the second for Kud-Sverchkov. Meir, Hathaway and Adenot arrived at the station on Feb. 13 aboard a Dragon spacecraft as part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission, launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. They splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off Los Angeles on Oct. 8, after 237 days in space. They traveled more than 100 million miles and completed more than 3,792 orbits. It was Meir’s second mission and the first for Hathaway and Adenot. Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev also flew on Crew-12 but will not attend the Houston event.
The crews spent more than 1,400 hours on scientific research and technology tests. They tried metal and tissue 3D printing, which could help make items and biological materials in space, and studied how long space missions affect human health. Their work included measuring blood flow, testing piloting skills as gravity changes, and switching on a compact exercise system. They also checked life-support and environmental systems that will matter for future NASA Artemis missions to the Moon and other exploration trips.
Some experiments looked toward medical treatments. The crew studied how to form protein crystals for cancer medicines, improve ways to target tumors and grow stem cells for possible therapies. They also cared for the first set of plants studied outside curated systems, upgraded an instrument used to study matter and support quantum technology research, and kept visiting spacecraft and the station itself running.
For more than 26 years, people have lived and worked continuously aboard the space station. The orbiting laboratory gives researchers a place to study questions that cannot be tested in the same way on Earth, while helping NASA prepare for longer journeys. The crew also reached students and audiences around the world through live events, outreach and images from orbit. At the Houston gathering, the six visitors will bring those experiments and daily experiences closer to the people who followed their mission from the ground.