Soyuz Makes a Safe Landing

The Soyuz TMA-01M capsule, that had set off on a mission to the International Space Station made a safe landing on the snowy steppes of Central Asia (Kazakhstan), yesterday at 3:54 a.m. EDT (0754 GMT).

To the space and back....

Expedition 26 had a NASA astronaut, Commander Scott Kelly and two Russian cosmonauts, Flight Engineer Oleg Skripochka and Alexander Kaleri onboard. The landing albeit safe, happened in harsh conditions. The capsule landed on its side, but emerged unscathed. The strong winds dragged the capsule with the parachute by about 75 feet. The mission lasted for a good 159 days, wherein the crew members enroute their way home, left behind 3 crew members. These members will be a part of Expedition 27. The mission on the Soyuz capsule was a debut one for the capsule, which underwent a design change.

Yet another interesting aspect of the space journey was the unpacking of Humanoid Space robot. It was on this mission that the crate was unpacked. This humanoid robot will assist space missions in the future.

Image courtesy: NASA/Bill Ingalls