Realtime coverage of Soyuz TMA-18 entry and landing
09/25/2010 02:05 AM Filed in: International Space Station | Space News
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1:35 a.m. EDT, 09/25 Update: Soyuz TMA-18 lands in Kazakhstan (2:05 a.m. update: adding photos; crew description)
The Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft, moments before landing.
(Photo: NASA/Bill Ingalls)Running one day late, a Russian Soyuz capsule carried two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut back to Earth early Saturday, the final chapter in an action-packed six-month mission aboard the International Space Station.
"And the search and recovery forces now report the Soyuz TMA-18 has landed," said Rob Navias, mission control commentator at the Johnson Space Center in Houston
."The soft landing engines reported to have worked perfectly. Alexander Skvortsov, Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Mikhail Kornienko, back on Earth after 176 days in space."
Russian recovery forces, including NASA flight surgeons and support personnel, rushed to the landing site from nearby staging areas to assist Skvortsov, Kornienko and Caldwell Dyson as they began the process of re-adapting to Earth's gravity after 176 days in space.
But all three appeared relaxed and in good spirits after they were assisted from the spacecraft, enjoying fresh fruit and chatting with recovery personnel.
Tracy Caldwell Dyson is carried to a nearby tent for a post-landing
medical check. (Photo: NASA/Bill Ingalls)After initial medical exams, all three crew members were to be flown to Karaganda for a traditional Kazakh welcome. Skvortsov and Kornienko then planned to head for Star City near Moscow while Caldwell Dyson was scheduled to fly back to the Johnson Space Center in Houston aboard a NASA jet.
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