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Frayed nerves as astronauts return
Source: Agencies |
September 17, 2011, Saturday
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Print Edition
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A RUSSIAN Soyuz capsule carrying three returning astronauts from the International Space Station touched down safely yesterday in the central steppes of Kazakhstan, but not without rattling nerves after a breakdown in communications.
Russian cosmonauts Andrei Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyayev and NASA astronaut Ron Garan landed 50 kilometers southeast of the city of Zhezkazgan at 10am local time after 164 days in space.
Calls to the Soyuz TMA-21 capsule from Mission Control in Korolyov, outside Moscow, went unanswered for several minutes, well after the craft had de-orbited. Communication was eventually established between the crew and an Antonov aircraft over the landing site.
The landing was smooth in the area planned seconds before the expected arrival time.
Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov, NASA's Michael Fossum, and Satoshi Furukawa of Japan's JAXA space agency remain on the space station and are due to return to Earth on November 22.
There will be some taut nerves in the run-up to that return, which Russia's space agency Roscosmos announced yesterday should be preceded by a manned Soyuz launch from Baikonur on November 14. Earlier this week, Roscosmos had announced that the launch would take place on November 12.
It had to postpone that launch from October amid concerns over a failed supply mission last month. Another delay would almost certainly mean the space station being left unmanned. Astronauts have been living aboard the station, without interruption, for almost 11 years.
Since phasing out the US space shuttle earlier this year, NASA relies on Russia to get American and other astronauts to the international space station.
Yesterday, Russian space officials mounted their well-rehearsed search-and-recovery operation for Soyuz landings, deploying 14 Mi-8 helicopters in a holding circular pattern.
"These helicopters arrive at a targeted area and hover for a bit until they get a confirmation of exactly where the Soyuz has landed. But we actually did not hover at all today, we came straight in to the landing site," said NASA spokesman Josh Byerly, at the landing site.
Samokutyayev, was the first to be pulled out and hoisted into a medical chair. He look visibly drained, but in good spirits, as a nurse mopped his brow and checked his blood pressure. A beaming Garan was hoisted out a few minutes later, shortly followed by Borisenko.
The three men were then carried to an inflatable medical tent, where they were to change into more comfortable clothes ahead of their return home.
The craft carrying the crew was dubbed the Gagarin, as they began their trip to the space station on April 4, eight days shy of the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's maiden voyage into orbit.
Russian cosmonauts Andrei Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyayev and NASA astronaut Ron Garan landed 50 kilometers southeast of the city of Zhezkazgan at 10am local time after 164 days in space.
Calls to the Soyuz TMA-21 capsule from Mission Control in Korolyov, outside Moscow, went unanswered for several minutes, well after the craft had de-orbited. Communication was eventually established between the crew and an Antonov aircraft over the landing site.
The landing was smooth in the area planned seconds before the expected arrival time.
Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov, NASA's Michael Fossum, and Satoshi Furukawa of Japan's JAXA space agency remain on the space station and are due to return to Earth on November 22.
There will be some taut nerves in the run-up to that return, which Russia's space agency Roscosmos announced yesterday should be preceded by a manned Soyuz launch from Baikonur on November 14. Earlier this week, Roscosmos had announced that the launch would take place on November 12.
It had to postpone that launch from October amid concerns over a failed supply mission last month. Another delay would almost certainly mean the space station being left unmanned. Astronauts have been living aboard the station, without interruption, for almost 11 years.
Since phasing out the US space shuttle earlier this year, NASA relies on Russia to get American and other astronauts to the international space station.
Yesterday, Russian space officials mounted their well-rehearsed search-and-recovery operation for Soyuz landings, deploying 14 Mi-8 helicopters in a holding circular pattern.
"These helicopters arrive at a targeted area and hover for a bit until they get a confirmation of exactly where the Soyuz has landed. But we actually did not hover at all today, we came straight in to the landing site," said NASA spokesman Josh Byerly, at the landing site.
Samokutyayev, was the first to be pulled out and hoisted into a medical chair. He look visibly drained, but in good spirits, as a nurse mopped his brow and checked his blood pressure. A beaming Garan was hoisted out a few minutes later, shortly followed by Borisenko.
The three men were then carried to an inflatable medical tent, where they were to change into more comfortable clothes ahead of their return home.
The craft carrying the crew was dubbed the Gagarin, as they began their trip to the space station on April 4, eight days shy of the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's maiden voyage into orbit.
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