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June 3, 2010
International Space Station Expedition 23 Crew Lands Safely
Photo: A family of Osprey are seen outside the NASA Kennedy Space Center Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) in Cape Canaveral, Fla. on Thursday, May 13, 2010. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Photo: Russian cosmonaut Expedition 23 Flight Engineer Mikhail Kornienko smiles as he awaits to have his Sokol suit pressure checked prior to launch, Friday, April 2, 2010, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Kornienko and fellow Expedition 23 crew members Soyuz Commander Alexander Skvortsov and NASA Flight Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson launched in their Soyuz TMA-18 rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Friday, April 2, 2010. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Photo: Expedition 23 NASA Flight Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson of the U.S. prepares to have her Russian Sokol suit pressure checked at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Friday, April 2, 2010. Caldwell Dyson and fellow Expedition 23 crewmembers Soyuz Commander Alexander Skvortsov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Kornienko of Russia launched in their Soyuz TMA-18 rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Friday, April 2, 2010. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)
Photo: The Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft is rolled out by train to the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, March, 31, 2010. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)
Photo: Pad technicians secure the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft shortly after it was rolled out by train to the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, March, 31, 2010. Photo Credit (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Photo: Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong (first person to set foot on the Moon) makes a point as he testifies during a hearing before the House Science and Technology Committee, Tuesday, May 26, 2010, at the Rayburn House office building on Capitol Hill in Washington. The hearing was to review proposed human spaceflight plan by NASA. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Photo: Expedition 23 Flight Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson performs the traditional door signing Friday, April 2, 2010 at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Caldwell Dyson was launched onboard the Soyuz rocket later that day with Expedition 23 Soyuz Commander Alexander Skvortsov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Kornienko on a mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)
Photo: The Soyuz TMA-18 rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Friday, April 2, 2010 carrying Expedition 23 Soyuz Commander Alexander Skvortsov of Russia, Flight Engineer Mikhail Kornienko of Russia and NASA Flight Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson of the U.S. to the International Space Station. (Photo Credit: NASA/Carla Cioffi)
Photo: The Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft is seen as it lands with Expedition 23 Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineers T.J. Creamer and Soichi Noguchi near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on June 1, 2010. NASA Astronaut Creamer, Russian Cosmonaut Kotov and Japanese Astronaut Noguchi are returning from six months onboard the International Space Station where they served as members of the Expedition 22 and 23 crews. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Expedition 23 Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineers T.J. Creamer and Soichi Noguchi landed their Soyuz-17 spacecraft in Kazakhstan Tuesday, June 1, wrapping up a five-and-a-half-month stay aboard the International Space Station.
Kotov, the Soyuz commander, was at the controls of the spacecraft as it undocked from the aft port on the station's Zvezda module. The crew landed on June 1 at 11:25 p.m., east of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan.
Russian recovery teams were on hand to help the crew exit the Soyuz vehicle and adjust to gravity after 163 days in space. Kotov will return to the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, outside of Moscow. NASA astronaut Creamer and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Noguchi will return to Houston.
The trio launched aboard the Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Dec. 21, 2009. As members of the Expedition 22 and 23 crews, they spent 161 days on the station. They supported three space shuttle missions that delivered the U.S. Tranquility module and its cupola; put the finishing touches on U.S. laboratory research facilities; and attached the Russian Rassvet laboratory and storage module.
Kotov has logged 360 total days in space on his two missions, and Creamer has 163 days. Noguchi, who also flew on the STS-114 shuttle mission, has compiled 177 days in space.
A new trio of Expedition 24 flight engineers, Douglas Wheelock, Shannon Walker and Fyodor Yurchickhin, will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 4:35 p.m. on June 15.
Source: NASA
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Edited & Posted by the Editor | 4:00 AM | Link to this Post
