ASTANA, Kazakhstan (AP) -- South African Internet millionaire Mark Shuttleworth, the world's second space tourist, landed safely in Kazakhstan early Sunday to resounding applause and relieved smiles, Russian Mission Control reported.
The Soyuz capsule landed right on schedule at 11:51 p.m. EDT (0351 GMT), a flight controller at Russian Mission Control said, based on information from a search helicopter that spotted the capsule near the Kazakh town of Arkalyk.
Shuttleworth, a 28-year old Internet magnate, won't soon forget his $20 million trip. To make sure he'll have a big souvenir to remind him of the the 10-day journey into space, he has bought the Soyuz capsule and his space suit.
The capsule landed within the target zone, and weather conditions were good, flight controllers said. The search helicopter reached the landing site, and the crew had emerged and were undergoing their first medical checkup, an announcement on the Mission Control loudspeaker said.
Shuttleworth's mother, Patronelle, who spent the night at Mission Control, covered her face with her hands during the landing, peeked occasionally at the big screen monitoring the landing, and burst into tears after the successful touchdown was announced.
"Complete and absolute relief,'' she said over and over. "It's not your everyday family experience.'' She said she's been sleeping in snatches over the last week while her son was in space. Shuttleworth's brother, Bradley, was also on hand. "I'm glad to have him on terra firma. I'm stunned at how fast it went these last 10 days,'' he said. ``I wonder if he'll want to do it again.''
Several hours earlier at 8:31 p.m. EDT (0031 Sunday GMT) the Soyuz had successfully undocked from the International Space Station, starting the descent process.
"I'm quite nervous. It's been a roller coaster ride,'' Patronelle Shuttleworth said. "You never imagine your son doing something like this. That's just not something that's an option for most of us.''
On his last day aboard the station, Shuttleworth caught up on some sleep, allowing himself an extra hour.
But Shuttleworth's mission was jam-packed with experiments and projects, enough to keep the world's second paying space tourist busy at work from 6 a.m. to about 11:30 p.m. GMT most days.
Five Russian planes, nine helicopters and five cross-country rescue vehicles were on call to retrieve Shuttleworth and his two crewmates, Flight Commander Yuri Gidzenko and rookie Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori, from their landing in the barren Kazakh steppes.
Russian technicians, working from Earth, test-fired the Soyuz's engines Thursday in preparation for departure. In a well-rehearsed procedure, a few hours before undocking, the Soyuz crew switches on the power supply, squeeze into their spacesuits and strap themselves snugly into the cramped quarters.
The three-ton capsule resembles a fiery ball as it plunges at 10 times the speed of sound through the Earth's atmosphere, its outer wall reaching temperatures of 18,000 degrees Fahrenheit (10,000 degrees Celsius).
Natural drag slows the capsule down and long before impact, a parachute automatically opens, reducing its speed even further.
Just seconds before touching ground, the capsule's engines fire in an attempt to give the crew a "soft'' landing, said Shuttleworth's father, Rick, who flew to Kazakhstan to welcome his eldest son home.
But even a soft landing can still shake-up the crew, whose bodies must quickly adjust from zero-gravity to Earth's gravitational pull. The Russian Soyuz capsule is also known to frequently end up on its side during landing.
When the world's first space tourist, American businessman Dennis Tito, returned from his flight last year, he followed an already popular tradition and took advantage of the help offered him -- choosing to be carried in his chair after landing rather than testing out his still-unsteady legs.
After landing, Shuttleworth and the other crew will be evaluated by Russian medical experts, then the trio will return to Russia's Star City for more observation.
Rick Shuttleworth said when his son is cleared by medical experts, his family plans to take him on vacation. This fall, the world's second space tourist plans a tour around South African schools to promote space studies, his father said.
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