Sat, Mar 20, 2010
Returning Crew Members Helped Complete U.S. Portion Of The
Station
Expedition 22 Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Max
Suraev landed their Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft on the steppes of
Kazakhstan Thursday, wrapping up a five-and-a-half-month stay
aboard the International Space Station.
File Photo
Suraev, the Soyuz commander, was at the controls of the
spacecraft as it undocked at 0403 EDT from the station's Poisk
module. The duo landed at 0724 at a site northeast of the Kazakh
town of Arkalyk.
Working in frigid temperatures, Russian recovery teams were on
hand at the landing site to help the crew exit the Soyuz vehicle
and readjust to gravity. The crew members will return to the
Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, outside of
Moscow.
Williams and Suraev launched aboard the Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft
from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sept. 30, 2009. As
members of the Expedition 21 and 22 crews, they spent 167 days on
the station, presiding over the completion of the complex's U.S.
segment. The astronauts supported two space shuttle flights and
helped install the Tranquility module, the cupola viewing port and
a second Russian docking module. Scientific research aboard the
station continued to ramp up with the increase in available crew
time and laboratory facilities.
Williams now has logged 362 total days in space, placing him
fourth on the all-time U.S. list of long-duration space travelers.
Peggy Whitson, who has spent 377 days in space, tops that list.
The station now is occupied by Expedition 23 Commander Oleg
Kotov and Flight Engineers Soichi Noguchi and T.J. Creamer. A new
trio of Expedition 23 flight engineers -- Alexander Skvortsov,
Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Mikhail Kornienko -- will launch from the
Baikonour Cosmodrome on April 2 and join the current station crew
with a docking on April 4.
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