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“Dream landing” for Russia’s Soyuz with three astronauts
Khaleej Times, (AFP)
28 October 2003
NEAR ARKALYK, Kazakhstan - A Russian Soyuz vessel carrying US astronaut Edward Lu, Russia’s Yuri Malenchenko and Spain’s Pedro Duque landed safely in Kazakhstan’s desert early Tuesday, more than three hours after leaving the International Space Station, space officials said.
“It was a dream landing,” NASA spokesman Rob Navias said, adding that the astronauts’ anxious colleagues on board the ISS already knew the landing was successful.
The Soyuz TMA-2 craft landed at 05:41 am Moscow time (0241 GMT) as planned, in a secluded spot some 35 kilometers (21 miles) south of the town of Arkalyk, said the chief of Russia’s space search and rescue agency, General Vladimir Popov. The vessel had undocked from the space station at 02:17 am (2317 GMT Monday).
“The cosmonauts feel fine. Pedro Duque was only sorry that his trip was so short,” Popov said.
Duque, the first Spaniard to board the ISS, heartily agreed as he drank mineral water and munched on a huge apple, while Russia’s Malenchenko opted for tea.
“The landing was so smooth, almost like it was in simulation,” Duque said in Russian.
“It is great to be back home,” their American companion Edward Lu said.
The three astronauts were immediately hustled off into a mobile hospital to undergo tests. They will then be flown to Kazakhstan’s capital Astana for a few hours before leaving for Chkalovsky near Moscow.
In an unprecedented security measure, doctors from the United States and Spain were present at the landing site, while 12 helicopters and three airplanes patrolled the skies.
A US military mobile hospital also was on standby in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana, to ease concerns voiced by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) following the last mission’s troubled landing in May.
ESA is one of the main partners along with Russia and the United States in the 16-nation ISS project. It is the first space mission for a European astronaut on the ISS since the disaster of the American space shuttle Columbia in February, and the presence of Spaniard Pedro Duque on the flight was seen as a boost for the European space program.
During his 10-day mission Duque had been due to carry out 24 experiments in the fields of life and physical sciences, Earth observation, education and technology.
Malenchenko and Lu, who spent six months on board the ISS, were replaced by British-born American Michael Foale and Russian Alexander Kaleri, who will stay on board the space station until April 2004.
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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