U.S. Army astronaut returning to earth after 204-day trip

The U.S. Army announced Thursday that one of its astronauts will soon return from a 204-day research mission aboard the International Space Station.

Lt. Col. Anne McClain will depart on Monday aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft as part of a small group set to leave the station, the Army said in a statement.

The Soyuz rocket made international headlines last year after a booster rocket failure on the spacecraft forced an emergency landing for two astronauts headed to the space station, according to the Associated Press.

Then, in December, Ms. McClain, along with David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency and Oleg Kononenko of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, had a successful launch from earth to the space station.

There have been 18 U.S. Army astronauts who have been selected by NASA since the military branch began working with the agency in 1958, according to the Army.

Another Army astronaut will depart for the space station on July 20, the 50th anniversary of the Apollo XI lunar landing.