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Soyuz Spacecraft With Three ISS Crew On Board Lands In Kazakhstan
A Russian Soyuz spacecraft landed safely in the steppes of Kazakhstan early Friday, bringing three astronauts back from the orbiting International Space Station (ISS). The Soyuz vessel touched down near the city of Arkalyk at 0011 GMT Friday, with US astronaut Michael Foale, his Russian colleague Alexander Kalery and Andre Kuipers from the Netherlands on board. The spacecraft's landing was greeted with cheers at the Mission Control Center in Korolyov, near Moscow, where Kuipers' parents, fiancee and two daughters and Foale's wife and son attended the event. NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe, Russian Federal Space Agency director Anatoly Perminov and European Space Agency (ESA) general director Jean-Jacques Dordain were also present at the Control Center. The Soyuz spacecraft had undocked from the ISS just over three hours earlier at 2052 GMT Thursday. The Soyuz landing was broadcast live from Kazakhstan on giant screens at the Control Center. Foal, Kalery and Kuipers, smiling but a little pale and weakened by the lack of gravity they experienced on the ISS, were helped out of the spacecraft by Russian space rescue service staff. They then sat in armchairs looking out at the Kazakh steppes and sipped hot drinks before being carried away into waiting helicopters. The astronauts were due to arrive by plane at Chkalovsky airport near Moscow later Friday. "We are very happy (although) of course we were worried, because anything could have happened," said Kuipers' mother Maria. An official with Russia's manned space flights program played down the significance of a small helium leak that had been discovered on the Soyuz spacecraft on Wednesday, before it left the ISS. "We discovered an insignificant leak but we knew it would have no consequences on the landing (although) to be on the safe side, we carried out certain operations in order to preserve (the necessary) volumes" of helium aboard Soyuz, Vladimir Solovyov said. Space officials had also been anxious to avoid a repeat of the botched landing last May when the landing capsule landed nearly 500 kilometers (300 miles) off-target, forcing rescuers to search for the astronauts for several hours. Foale and Kalery carried out 42 scientific experiments while aboard the ISS, Perminov said. Kuipers carried out 21 experiments, 19 of which were successful, said the director of the ESA's manned flights program, Joerg Feustel Bueechel. Kuipers had been in orbit since April 19, while Foale and Kalery had been aboard the ISS for six months. Since the Columbia shuttle disaster last year, Russia's Soyuz rockets have been the only way to send astronauts and equipment to and from the ISS, a 16-nation project. The Soyuz mission was the third to the ISS since the United States froze shuttle missions after Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry in February 2003. US shuttle flights are due to resume next April. With Russia receiving no extra funding for providing transport to the ISS, NASA and the cash-strapped Russian space agency have been in conflict over Russian demands to extend the usual missions to one year. This would free up more seats on the six-monthly Soyuz "taxi" missions which Russia wants to sell to space tourists and ESA astronauts. All rights reserved. � 2004 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse. Related Links Delta at ESA SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express 
Expedition 9 On Station At ISS
Houston - Apr 27, 2004Expedition 9 Commander Gennady Padalka and NASA ISS Science Officer Mike Fincke are getting used to their new home in space. Their ISS Soyuz 8 spacecraft docked with the International Space Station at 1:01 a.m. EDT Wednesday, and following leak checks and hatch opening, they entered the orbiting laboratory at 2 a.m. EDT.
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