International Space Ventures: Soyuz Crew Returns, China Faces Setback, SpaceX Mars Plans

Russian Soyuz returns three crew members, including a U.S. astronaut, from the ISS. China's Deep Blue Aerospace's kerosene-powered rocket fails its test flight. SpaceX announces plans to send five uncrewed Starships to Mars in the next two years, according to CEO Elon Musk.

In a significant development in space missions, a Russian Soyuz capsule safely returned two Russian cosmonauts and a U.S. astronaut from the International Space Station (ISS) to Earth on Monday. The Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft touched down on the Kazakh steppe at 1159 GMT, carrying Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub and Oleg Kononenko, alongside NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson.

Meanwhile, in China, startup Deep Blue Aerospace faced a setback. The company's innovative reusable, kerosene-fueled rocket, Nebula-1, failed to complete its high-altitude vertical recovery test flight. The spacecraft met 10 of its 11 objectives but ultimately crashed during the final stage of descent in Inner Mongolia.

In another forward-looking announcement, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk revealed plans to launch roughly five uncrewed Starship missions to Mars within two years. Musk shared the ambitious goal on social media platform X, highlighting the target timeframe as the next Earth-Mars transfer window.

(With inputs from agencies.)