Space station crew returns to Earth on Russian spaceship

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, October 28, 2003

Space station crew returns to Earth on Russian spaceship

A Soyuz space capsule carrying an American, a Russian and a Spaniard landed safely Tuesday in the wide open steppes of Kazakhstan, Russian Mission Control said.

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A Soyuz space capsule carrying an American, a Russian and a Spaniard landed safely Tuesday in the wide open steppes of Kazakhstan, Russian Mission Control said.

The 3.5-hour trip descent to Earth was only the second time that a U.S. astronaut has come home in a Russian craft and landed on foreign soil. Since the disintegration of the space shuttle Columbia in February put NASA manned space flights on hold, the Russian Soyuz capsules have been the linchpin of the space station program.

Officials at Mission Control outside Moscow and others waiting in Kazakhstan for the landing were pleased that the wild ride of the last Soyuz descent in May, which ended with the American and Russian crew going some 250 miles off-course due to a computer error was avoided.

The three on Tuesday's homeward-bound trip were American Ed Lu and Russian Yuri Malenchenko, who flew to the space station nearly six months ago in the same Soyuz, and Spaniard Pedro Duque, who arrived at the station eight days ago on a different capsule.

Russian aerospace engineers had said there was only a slim chance that this crew would suffer from the same computer malfunction that sent the station's previous inhabitants on such a steep trajectory home that their tongues rolled back in their mouths. The May landing was so far off-target that more than two gut-wrenching hours passed before rescuers knew the men were safe.

About three hours before departure, Lu, Malenchenko and Duque bid farewell to the station's new crew, American Michael Foale and Russian Alexander Kaleri.

Malenchenko returns to Earth a married man, having married Texas resident Ekaterina Dmitriev by proxy while in space. The new bride will be waiting at a military air base near Star City outside Moscow, where the cosmonauts will be flown later Tuesday.

Also waiting will be NASA scientists, eager for water samples and, if there is room, a canister of air from the space station. Monitoring equipment onboard has broken down, leading some NASA officials to reportedly express concerns about keeping crews up there. NASA, along with astronaut Foale, have dismissed the fears, saying there are no indications of a health risk.

Source: Agencies

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