Two Russian spacemen and a NASA astronaut touched down safely Friday in the Kazakh steppe aboard a Soyuz capsule after a stay of almost six months aboard the International Space Station.
Seventeen Russian helicopters and jets patrolled the clear blue skies as the silver metal capsule parachuted gracefully through the air before bumping into a field of straw and early spring grass and rolling over gently onto its side. Live NASA TV footage showed a team of medics swarm the capsule and pull out a smiling Anton Shkaplerov — a Russian awarded the honour of breathing the fresh air first because he occupied the capsule’s middle seat.
Shkaplerov appeared “in good shape and none the worse for wear,” a NASA commentator said as the spaceman gave a thumbs-up sign from inside his bulky white suit. The three men were soon whisked away for a quick change of clothing and to pull on some special socks designed to improve their circulation and reduce the potential threat of blood clots and strokes. It was the last touchdown performed by the older analogue version of the Soyuz capsule before it is replaced by a digital version. Shkaplerov and his Russian counterpart Anatoly Ivanishin and American Dan Burbank will be replaced by a new crew that is due to take off from Russia’s Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on May 15.
