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Space station crew lands safely
From CNN Space Producer David Santucci
(CNN) -- After six months aboard the International Space Station, American Astronaut Ed Lu and his Russian counterpart Yuri Malenchenko have returned safely to Earth in Kazakhstan. The Expedition 7 crew had been orbting the Earth at 17,500 mph on the ISS since May. The Soyuz capsule they used to return home touched down precisely at the targeted landing site at 8:41 a.m. local time Tuesday (0241 GMT). Lu said before leaving the space station that even though it was just him and Malenchenko on board for the past six months, their work had been easy. "We've had a great time up here and it's kind of hard to believe that we really haven't had an argument in the six months that we've been up here," he said. Also on board the returning capsule was Pedro Duque of the European Space Agency (ESA), who hitched a ride into space nine days ago with the replacement Expedition 8 crew, U.S. astronaut Mike Foale and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri. Foale and Kaleri will spend the next six months operating the aging space station. While aboard, Duque conducted experiments for the ESA in life and physical sciences. NASA and its international partners plan to keep the space station occupied by sending replacement crews -- made up of an astronaut and cosmonaut -- aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft. GroundedPreviously, NASA sent the crews on shuttles -- but the shuttle fleet was grounded following the breakup of Columbia as it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere on February 1 this year killing all seven crew members aboard. As yet no firm date has been set for the shuttles to return to service with NASA saying the next launch will be no earlier than September 2004. Unlike the space shuttle, the Russian Soyuz capsule holds only three passengers and re-enters the Earth's atmosphere using a heat shield, which burns off as it passes through the super heated gases. The Soyuz then slows its descent to Earth using parachutes and finally breaks the impact with the ground by firing rockets just before touchdown.
When the previous crew of the space station returned home in May, the landing was less than picture-perfect. That spacecraft came in steeper than expected and landed 300 miles short of the landing site due to an error with the onboard guidance computer. After the landing recovery crews spent two gut-wrenching hours trying to locate the capsule and without knowing whether its occupants were safe. This time the crew was equipped with a Global Positioning System locator and satellite phone so they could call and give their location if they missed their target. The Russian Space Agency said its teams were also prepared in case of anything unexpected. They placed teams in both areas where the Soyuz was supposed to land and where it landed short the last time. In a lighter moment during the last space station crew's stint, Malenchenko got married via a video hookup while in space. During the wedding his bride was on the ground in Texas with a carboard cutout representing the cosmonaut. Malenchenko will be united with his new wife for the first time Tuesday evening at the Star City cosmonaut training complex outside of Moscow.
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