Posted on 05/04/2003 3:41:27 AM PDT by kattracks
ASTANA (Reuters) - A U.S.-Russian space crew, stranded in orbit by the U.S. Columbia tragedy, has landed in Kazakhstan, but rescuers found them more than two hours later because their capsule missed its landing target.
Mission control said on Sunday Americans Ken Bowersox and Donald Pettit and Russia's Nikolai Budarin touched down at around 3:00 a.m. British time in the Kazakh steppe after almost six months in space.
But mission control held its breath until rescuers scouring the Kazakh steppe in planes and helicopters found them at 0420
GMT.
"Rescue planes have spotted the capsule from the air. The capsule hatch is open," a relieved official at mission control said. "We have radio contact with the crew. Thank God, they are all alive and well."
He added the Soyuz had landed in a remote spot north of the Aral Sea, some 500 km (310 miles) short of its target, an unusually large stretch.
It was not clear why the capsule missed its planned landing site, some 90 km (55 miles) north of Arkalyk in Kazakhstan.
Rescuers quoted by Itar-Tass news agency said they found the crew standing by the capsule waving to them. The crew is due to be taken to the Kazakh capital Astana and later flown to Moscow.
Mission control is usually flooded with applause as crews return safely. Early on Sunday it was silent as experts struggled to understand what was happening.
Experts at mission control said the capsule probably came down in a steeper, so-called ballistic descent, increasing the force of gravity. They added the Soyuz's communication system may have been disrupted by the descent, cutting links with the ground and slowing down rescue efforts.
"After half a year in space it is not clear how their bodies will react to this pressure," Nikolai Ivanov, a ballistics expert at mission control said. "I think it will all be fine."
The U.S.-Russian trio had been on the space station since November and were to return to earth in early March on board a U.S. shuttle.
But the astronauts had to stay in orbit after the U.S. shuttle Columbia disintegrated in mid-air in February, killing seven astronauts on board and grounding the shuttle fleet.
A hitch only three months later could have been fatal to the $95 billion International Space Station (ISS).
The Columbia disaster sparked concerns the ISS could be mothballed while the U.S. shuttle fleet remained grounded, with Russia unable to carry the burden of servicing it alone.
The Soyuz, the world's longest serving manned space craft, has proven particularly resistant to rough landings in testing.
It was the first time U.S. astronauts have come home on a Soyuz which remains the principal life-line for the space station until U.S. authorities make a final decision on the shuttle.
The new Soyuz model that ferried the three men back to earth had been fitted with a new entry control system, instruments to increase landing accuracy, and new engines.
The three men were replaced on the space station on April 28 by a reduced two-man crew, Russian commander Yuri Malenchenko and U.S. flight engineer Edward Lu.
I'm amazed they could do this after six months in space. That's a good sign.
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