This
story was updated at 4:17 a.m. EDT.
A
billionaire space tourist and two professional astronauts returned safely to
Earth Wednesday aboard a Russian spacecraft, bringing a successful end to their
respective missions to the International Space Station.
American
space tourist Charles Simonyi and the station's returning Expedition 18 crew
touched down on the Central Asian steppes of Kazakhstan at 3:16 a.m. EDT (0716
GMT), their Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft parachuting to a pinpoint landing.
The flawless
landing marked the end of a smooth flight for Simonyi, the world's
first repeat space tourist, who returned to Earth alongside the station's
Expedition 18 commander Michael Fincke of NASA and Russian flight engineer Yury
Lonchakov. It was early afternoon Local Time at their landing site.
"It was a
great trip, thank you everyone," Simonyi, 60, said just before leaving the
space station late Tuesday. "I'm looking forward to get home to my wife, but it
was a fantastic trip."
Simonyi and
the Expedition 18 crew were promptly greeted by swarms of recovery workers, who
had watched from nearby helicopters as the Soyuz floated down under parachutes
and landed. All three spaceflyers were swiftly helped out of their spacecraft and
were reported to be in good health after returning to Earth and feeling the tug
of gravity once more.
"This is
what Earth is like!" Fincke called out.
Space
tourist's second trip
Simonyi
paid about $35 million for a 13-day trip to the space station under a deal
between Russia's Federal Space Agency and the Virginia-based firm Space Adventures,
which is currently the only firm arranging orbital spaceflights for private
citizens. It was Simonyi's second spaceflight. He last visited the space
station in 2007 under a similar deal that cost more than $20 million at the
time.
"It was a
difficult decision for me to fly for the second time and now looking back, I'm
so glad that I've done it," Simonyi said before leaving, adding that he was
able to perform
twice as much science, photography and educational events than he did the
first time.
Simonyi
launched to the station on March 26 with the outpost's new
Expedition 19 crew - veteran cosmonaut commander Gennady Padalka and NASA
astronaut Michael Barratt - which replaced Fincke and Lonchakov. A third member
of Expedition 19, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, was already aboard the
outpost when the new crew members arrived.
"From where
I stand, I think humanity has got a wonderful space station in the
International Space Station," Simonyi said, lauding the outpost's professional
crews and ground support. "Maybe the only thing that is more remarkable than
the size and the effectiveness of this space vehicle is the people serving on
board."
Simonyi's
flight was the seventh private flight arranged by Space Adventures and may be
the last for some time due to a lack of available Soyuz seats. But the company
is hopeful it will be able to offer seats to paying customers, possibly as
early as late September.
Back on
Earth
Wednesday's
Soyuz landing was delayed one day due to soggy ground conditions at the
spacecraft's first drop zone, which forced Russian flight controllers to shift
to a more suitable area southeast of the initial site near the Kazakh city of
Dzhezkazgan.
Before
Simonyi and the Expedition 18 crew returned to Earth, they bid a fond farewell
to the space station's new Expedition 19 crew. Their Soyuz spacecraft undocked
from the station late Tuesday at 11:55 p.m. EDT (0355 GMT) as both spacecraft
flew 220 miles (354 km) above eastern Russia.
Fincke said
it was the "coolest thing" in his life to work with NASA and its partners in
Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada to build the International Space Station over
the last six months, his second tour at the outpost. During that time, he and
Lonchakov performed two spacewalks, hosted two visiting NASA space shuttles that
boosted the space station to full power and primed it to
support larger, six-person crews later this year.
"We do
everything together. We're humanity's bright hope for the future," Fincke said of
the entire space station effort. "So we're handing over station with all that.
The pressure's on guys!"
"Group
hug!" one of the astronauts said with a laugh as all six spaceflyers shared a
farewell embrace.
Fincke and
Lonchakov spent about 178 days in space during their half-year mission. Fincke
is now third on the NASA's list of most experienced spaceflyers behind
spaceflyers Michael Foale and Peggy Whitson, the latter of which holds the top
spot with 377 cumulative days in space during two station flights.
"Welcome
back to gravity!" someone told Fincke.
The world
record for the most cumulative time in space is held by Russian cosmonaut
Sergei Krikalev, who has 803 days in orbit during six spaceflights.
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