Soyuz with returning NASA astronauts lands safely in Kazakhstan

The Washington Post ^ | Monday, November 21, 9:56 PM | Associated Press

[Liberty Valance]

MOSCOW — A Russian Soyuz capsule carrying three astronauts returning from the International Space Station touched down safely in the snow-covered steppes of Kazakhstan early Tuesday morning. NASA astronaut Michael Fossum, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov and Satoshi Furukawa of Japan’s JAXA space agency landed at the break of dawn some 90 kilometers (56 miles) north of the town of Arkalyk at 8:26 a.m. (0226 GMT) after spending 165 days in space. The landing at steppe was close to its target point. NASA spokesman Josh Byerly said in the NASA television broadcast that the recovery operation was swift despite the freezing weather and strong wind. Video from the site showed the Soyuz capsule, blackened by the intense heat of re-entry, lying on its side as the astronauts were extracted. The three men looked well and smiling, although Furukawa looked visibly exhausted. They were seated in chairs and wrapped in warm blankets to help them get adjusted to gravity after spending four months in space. Valery Lyndin, spokesman for the Russian Mission Control Center, said all three astronauts are in good health. NASA’s Dan Burbank and Russians Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin remain onboard the International Space Station and are due to return to Earth in March. They arrived at the station on Wednesday. A launch next month will take the station back to its normal six-person crew. Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[Liberty Valance]

*ouch*

[caper gal 1]

No argument there.

[LomanBill]

Mike’s main hobby is serving as Scoutmaster of a Boy Scout Troop.

Wonder if he, like other Scouts circa 1975, remembers sitting around a campfire that summer and listening to an echoing "Apollo Soyuz!" reverberate from the mountains after we cast our voices into the darkness... when a glimmering object traveled through the sky?

I do.

[Liberty Valance]

Russian support personnel work to help get crew members out of the Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft shortly after the capsule landed with Expedition 29 Commander Mike Fossum and flight engineers Sergei Volkov and Satoshi Furukawa in a remote area outside of the town of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, at 9:26 p.m. EST on Monday, Nov. 21, 2011 (8:26 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011, Kazakhstan time). NASA astronaut Fossum, Russian cosmonaut Volkov and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Furukawa are returning from more than five months aboard the International Space Station where they served as members of the Expedition 28 and 29 crews.

[Liberty Valance]

NASA astronaut Mike Fossum under blankets at the frigid Kazakh landing site.

[Liberty Valance]

Ground personnel help member of the ISS crew U.S. astronaut Michael Fossum to get out off the Soyuz capsule minutes after landing near the town of Arkalyk, northern Kazakhstan,Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011. (AP Photo/Sergei Remizov, Pool)

[Liberty Valance]

The Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft with ISS crew of U.S. astronaut Michael Fossum, Russian cosmonaut Sergey Volkov and Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa lands near the town of Arkalyk, northern Kazakhstan,Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011. (AP Photo/Shamil Zhumatov, Pool)

[LomanBill]

Heh, must be quite the ride strapped into that thing as it klanks to a stop.

Thanks for posting.