Three International Space Station Crew Returned Safely To Earth in Kazakhstan

May 15, 2014 Posted by Editor

A Russian Soyuz TMA-11M space capsule carrying a Japanese astronaut, a veteran Russian cosmonaut and a NASA flight engineer landed on the Earth’s surface, putting an end to their six-month orbital mission. They returned near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on May 14, 2014 after a 188-day stay in space.

The capsule carried Expedition 39 NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio , Japanese spaceflyer Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos and they landed on the steppes of Kazakhstan at 9:58 p.m. EDT Tuesday night (May 13; 7:58 a.m. local time on Wednesday).

The Soyuz undocked from the space station 3 1/2 hours earlier while the two vehicles were above Mongolia, marking the clsoure of Expedition 39 and the advent of Expedition 40 on-board the orbiting lab.

The landing occurred on schedule with the capsule descending under a white parachute.

All were reported to be in good condition and Tyurin was heard joking that he’d like some red wine.

The landing came a day less than after Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Russia wouldn’t continue co-operating with the United States on the 15-nation ISS past 2020, as NASA had hoped.

US has relied on Russian Soyuz capsules to fly to and from the space station after NASA retired its space shuttle fleet. NASA faiths private companies such as Space X to be able to develop rockets and capsules to fly astronauts to the space station within a few years.

lab seven

Wow! We used to be a great Nation. Now we are wimping to the reds for help with space! Thank’s Liberal-Progrssives. “Progressive” what a joke.
- Johnny Le
  
  Really? It’s liberals’ fault? The liberals who advocate science and education? Not the religious conservatives? This is new to me.
  - lab seven
    
    Mr. Lee I suppose you don’t know who cancled our manned space program.
    - Johnny Le
      
      Bush. The Bush Administration decided to end shuttle missions with his New Vision for Space Exploration Program ” In 2010, the Space Shuttle — after nearly 30 years of duty — will be retired from service,” and the Obama Administration extended the life of the shuttle program by adding two additional flights. Bush shut it down but didn’t fund his new vision.
      
      http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=13404
    - Johnny Le
      
      Regardless of whom cancelling it, the decision was right. The program wasn’t working. We were using 30 year-old technology and the cost keeps climbing up. It’s rocket technology. We should make progress daily and the cost should decrease. Cancelling it and opening up to the private sector was the right thing to do.
      
      Although if it were me, I would have opened it up to the private sector first before canceling it so we wouldn’t be at the mercy of another country.
      - lab seven
        
        I was always against the shuttle. It was a “white elephant” with way too many points of potential failure.
        Bush wanted to re-start the manned space program.
        Helium 3 on the moon now just waiting to be mined will solve our worlds clean-safe energy needs for 1000 years. Privatize space? Sounds like a reasonable plan coming from a liberal.
      - Johnny Le
        
        What’s up with these liberal remarks? Don’t small government, business-oriented republican conservatives want the same things?
        
        We don’t need to mine the moon to solve our energy problem. We have plenty of solar energy here on earth. We just to get better at capturing and storing it. If we’re going to mine something, I’d rather prefer we mine things that are not attached to earth, our home. We say it’s arrogant to think we could change the earth but then we block rivers, cut off mountaintops, build skyscrapers that are taller than any mountain. If we mined the moon, we’re going of wreck the moon, and yes, we’re totally capable of that.