Soyuz capsule lands; US, Russia agree to resume launches

Sep 16, 2011

Washington/Moscow - The capsule of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft landed as planned early Friday, bringing three astronauts back from the International Space Station, Russian news reports said.

Russian Andrey Borisenko, the departing commander of the space station; Russian Alexander Samokutyaev and American Ron Garen landed at 8 am (0400 GMT) in the Kazakh steppe around 400 kilometers south of the capital Astana.

Rescue vehicles and physicians were on hand for the arrival of the 3-ton capsule, south-east of the city of Dzhezkazgan, the Russian Mission Control Centre was quoted as saying by news agency Itar-Tass.

The undocking came just a day after the US and Russia agreed to resume launches by Russian Soyuz craft following an accident last month, ensuring the International Space Station (ISS) will not have to be temporarily abandoned.

The three astronauts have been on the ISS since April. Three other astronauts - an American, Russian and Japanese - remained in orbit.

The next Soyuz is to fly to the ISS with three astronauts in mid-November, following an unmanned flight planned for October 1.

'Our top priority is the safety of our crew members. The plan approved today, coupled with the conditions in orbit, allows the partnership to support this priority while ensuring astronauts will continue to live and work on the station uninterrupted,' ISS program manager Michael Suffredini said.

He praised Russia for their quick investigation after an unmanned Russian Progress cargo rocket bound for the ISS failed last month, raising concerns about its motor that is also used on the country's manned Soyuz craft. That failure had raised the specter of temporarily abandoning the space station if the problem could not be fixed before some of the crew was to come home in November.

Since the retirement of the US space shuttle in July, the Russian craft are the only ones capable of taking humans to the space station.

'Our Russian colleagues have completed an amazing amount of work in a very short time to determine the root cause and develop a recovery plan that allows for a safe return to flight,' Suffredini said.

Source: Monsters and Critics.
Link: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/europe/news/article_1663301.php/Soyuz-capsule-lands-US-Russia-agree-to-resume-launches.