Tue, Sep 28, 2010
Soyuz Spacecraft Landed In Kazakhstan Saturday
Expedition 24 Commander Alexander Skvortsov and Flight Engineers
Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Mikhail Kornienko landed their Soyuz
TMA-18 spacecraft in Kazakhstan on Saturday, wrapping up a
six-month stay aboard the International Space Station.
File Photo Courtesy NASA Expedition 23
Skvortsov, the Soyuz commander, was at the controls of the
spacecraft as it undocked at 2202 EDT Friday from the Poisk
module's docking port on the station's Zvezda module. The undocking
and landing occurred a day later than planned because of a hatch
sensor problem Thursday night. That problem prevented hooks on the
Poisk side of the docking mechanism from opening. Station crew
members installed a series of jumper cables, bypassing the sensor,
and the Poisk module hooks retracted.
Following undocking and a normal descent, the crew landed at
0123 local time near Arkalyk, Kazakhstan.
Russian recovery teams were on hand to help the crew exit the
Soyuz vehicle and adjust to gravity after 176 days in space.
Skvortsov and Kornienko will return Saturday to the Gagarin
Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, outside of Moscow.
The trio launched aboard the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft from the
Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in April. As members of the
Expedition 23 and 24 crews, they spent 174 days on the station.
Caldwell Dyson and Expedition 25 Commander Doug Wheelock conducted
three spacewalks to replace a faulty cooling pump module on the
station's backbone, known as the truss. Kornienko conducted one
spacewalk to prepare the recently delivered Russian Rassvet Module
for future automated dockings by Russian spacecraft.
The station is occupied by Wheelock, who assumed command of the
station Wednesday, NASA Flight Engineer Shannon Walker, and Russian
Flight Engineer Fyodor Yurchikhin, who arrived in mid-June.
A new trio of Expedition 25 crew members - NASA astronaut Scott
Kelly and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka -
will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on October 7 (October 8 in
Kazakhstan) and arrive on the station about 48 hours later.
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