14 DAY TRIAL // Half of the permanent crew aboard the International Space Station that made up Expedition 25 returned home yesterday, landing their space capsule in the steppes of Kazakhstan.
Originally, the three were scheduled to return a few days later than they did, but the plan was moved forth because of an OSCE summit that it taking place in the recent soon.
NASA astronauts Douglas Wheelock and Shannon Walker, and Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, spent about five months on the orbital facility, after having arrived there on June 15.
They flew to space aboard the Soyuz TMA-19 mission. Wheelock was the commander of Expedition 25 until he surrendered his position to the three-astronaut crew that remained aboard the station.
After undocking from its port, the capsule was set on a reentry course, and managed to land successfully in central Kazakhstan on November 25 at 11:46 pm EST (0446 GMT on November 26).
Search and recovery teams of the Russian Federal Space Agency (RosCosmos) were scattered around in the steppe. They got to the astronaut very fast, and removed all crew members in record time.
All three appeared to be in good spirits, and Walker received a bouquet of flowers from the safety teams. She was very active in the media since the beginning of her stay on the ISS, posting images she collected from orbit on her Twitter page.
“We're always looking for ways to bring the views that we see out the window, and the things that we're experiencing – in the way of science onboard the station and the experience we have inside – back to Earth so folks can enjoy them,” Wheelock said.
“It's been a real thrill to be able to do that,” he added in an in-flight interview, Space reports. He said during the recovery efforts that returning to Earth will however have its advantages as well.
“I'm just really looking forward to the simple things. Probably the biggest thing I'm looking forward to is hot, running water – taking a shower. I haven't had a shower since June, so I'm looking forward to that,” the NASA astronaut explained.
“And really looking forward to feeling a breeze against my face, just smelling the Earth and all the vegetation, and experiencing the feel of the Earth again,” he added.
As the recovery effort concludes, Yurchikhin will be flown to Moscow, at the RosCosmos headquarters, whereas the two NASA astronauts will be sent to the agency's Johnson Space Center, in Houston, Texas.
Still aboard the ISS are astronaut Scott Kelly (NASA) and cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka and Alexander Kaleri (RosCosmos). NASA astronaut Catherine Coleman, ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli and cosmonaut Dmitri Kondratye will join the crew in mid-December, to form Expedition 26.