Tuesday, May 24, 2011

A Safe Return Home

The Soyuz TMA-20 near the ISS

After spending 157 days docked to the ISS, the Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft, with Russian cosmonaut Dmitri Kondratyev at the controls, undocked from the Rassvet module at 21:35 UTC on 23 May 2011. The ISS was flying above eastern China at the time separated.The Soyuz executed its deorbit burn at 01:36 UTC on May 24. The descent, habitation and propulsion modules making up the spacecraft separated at 02:01 UTC. The descent module, with the crew inside, reached the first traces of the Earth's atmosphere at an altitude of about 62 miles at 02:03 UTC.


Russian cosmonaut Dmitri Kondratyev,NASA astronaut Catherine Coleman and ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli pictured shortly after landing today.

 

A perfect landing in Zhezkazgan,  Kazakhstan.
The Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft landed safely at 02:27 UTC on 24 May 2011, after a mission lasting 159 days, seven hours and 17 minutes.

The re-entry was conducted without any significant problems. Soyuz TMA-20's large parachute and smaller drogue chute inflated as planned, and the spacecraft descended towards its landing zone in Kazakhstan. Welcome Home!

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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