The ninth
crew to the International Space Station (ISS) and one visiting cosmonaut are
safely back on Earth tonight, their Soyuz spacecraft dropping them right on
target on the chilly steppes of Kazakhstan.
After six
months aboard the space station, Expedition 9 commander Gennady Padalka and flight engineer Michael Fincke
were greeted by freezing temperatures and blowing wind when their Soyuz TMA-4
spacecraft touchdown on time at 8:36 p.m. EDT (0036 GMT). Russian Space Forces
cosmonaut Yuri Shargin, an ISS visitor, also rode the
Soyuz down to Earth.
"It is
freezing and it is windy," said NASA spokesman Rob Navias
from recovery helicopter staging grounds in Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, of the weather
conditions near Expedition 9's landing site.
Recovery
crews found Expedition 9's Soyuz spacecraft lying on its side instead of upright, apparently pushed over due to strong winds, NASA
commentators said. It was 6:36 a.m. local time, about 90 minutes before
sunrise, at the landing site.
Padalka
and Fincke return home after an eventful 188-day tour
in space that began on April 18. They made some unexpected repairs and conducted
four spacewalks, including one of the shortest
on record and another
that marked the first use of Russian spacesuits for a U.S. segment operation.
"This was a grand adventure," Fincke
told flight controllers in the U.S.
and Russia
during the descent. "We were successful only because we were working together and
we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your help in this
mission."
The landing marked the end of the first spaceflight for both
Fincke and Shargin.
Expedition 9 was Padalka's second long-duration space
mission.
Coming home
The
Expedition 9 crew and Shargin began their descent in
the early afternoon, when they stepped inside their Soyuz spacecraft and locked
the hatch connecting it to the station.
Hatch
closure occurred at 2:13 p.m. EDT (1813 GMT), at which time the space station's
new tenants - Expedition 10 commander Leroy Chiao and
flight engineer Salizhan Sharipov
- officially took over ISS operations. About
three hours of leak checks and undocking preparations followed.
"I'm happy
to be in Soyuz, it's a very good vehicle," said Shargin,
who arrived
at ISS with the Expedition 10 crew on Oct. 16 and spent almost all of his time
engrossed in science experiments.
With the
ISS drifting freely about 230 miles (180 kilometers) above Kazakhstan, the Expedition
9 crew and Shargin undocked their spacecraft from the
station's Zarya control module at 5:08 p.m. EDT (2108
GMT). After springing away from the station, the Soyuz executed an eight-second
burn to start its homeward flight.
"Leroy, I
left some food paste in the oven and Gennady won't let me come back and get it,"
Fincke joked with Chiao as the
Soyuz backed away.
"That's
okay, Gennady left his nametag here too," Chiao
answered. "Guys, good luck to you and safe return."
Fincke's
homecoming is especially sweet. In addition to once again experiencing gravity,
breathing air in the outdoors and seeing his wife Renita,
Fincke will finally be able to meet his new daughter Tarali, who was born on June 18 while the astronaut orbited
the Earth.
A busy mission
From the
start, Padalka and Fincke
knew they had a busy mission on their hands.
Less than a
day after docking with the ISS, a circuit breaker regulating power to one of
the station's attitude-controlling gyroscopes failed,
prompting an ad hoc spacewalk that proved more complicated than planned.
Two of the
U.S.-built spacesuits the Expedition 9 crew hoped to use for that spacewalk had
cooling system problems, leading Padalka and Fincke to use Russian-built Orlan
spacesuits to replace the U.S.-built circuit breaker. While the spacefarers
were able to make the repair,
it took two attempts after the first spacewalk was scrubbed after just 14
minutes when Fincke's spacesuit began losing
oxygen pressure unexpectedly.
Two
additional spacewalks were aimed primarily at preparing the ISS to receive the
Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) Jules Verne, a cargo ship built by the
European Space Agency.
The
Expedition 9 crew also repaired a finicky Elektron oxygen-generating device, with Fincke performing an intricate U.S. spacesuit repair
typically reserved for engineers on the ground.
Meanwhile,
NASA ISS flight controllers credited Fincke's
dedication to scientific research. As NASA's ISS Science Officer for Expedition
9, he spent much of his free Saturdays performing science experiments and
working with ground-based researchers.
Back on Earth
Although their
space mission has officially ended, Padalka and Fincke still have plenty to do in upcoming weeks.
Once they reach
Star City, Russia, the Expedition 9 crew will undergo
weeks of physical training and therapy to rebuild the muscle and bone strength they
lost during their spaceflight. Fincke will still be
in Russia during the
upcoming U.S.
presidential election on Nov. 2, but plans to vote via mail, he said on Oct. 20
news conference.
Although spacebound, Chiao will also vote
in the election, casting his ballot via secure e-mail connection.
"I've
always been a fan of the space program and now I've been to space," Fincke said after landing. "And I can say now it's worth
the money and it's worth the time for us to reach for the stars, Americans and
Russians working together."
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