14 DAY TRIAL // The Soyuz TMA-02M space capsule carrying the final segment of Expedition 29 to the International Space Station (ISS) landed on the steppes of Kazakhstan today, at 8:26 am local time (0226 GMT).
The spacecraft carried NASA astronaut and Expedition 29 Commander Mike Fossum, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) taikonaut Satoshi Furukawa and Russian Federal Space Agency (RosCosmos) flight engineer Sergei Volkov.
They landed in the frozen steppes of Kazakhstan, where emergency rescuers were waiting for them. The crew was immediately removed from the capsule, and were then taken to a hospital via helicopter.
After six months of staying in space, their bodies are weak, and they need to readjust to Earth's gravity before anything else. Long-duration missions lead to loss of muscle and bone masses, which have to be recovered through therapy and constant exercises.
Furukawa, Fossum and Volkov launched to the ISS aboard the same Soyuz spacecraft on June 9, and were left alone for a large part of their stay, primarily due to an accident involving the Progress 44 spacecraft this August.
The Soyuz rocket that carried it – the same RosCosmos uses for all manned spaceflights – failed after launch. The Russians had to investigate the occurrence in detail, and the launch of the Expedition 30 crew was delayed for more than a month.
The three astronauts who returned to Earth today spent a total of 167 days in space, of which 165 aboard the ISS. The mission raised Volkov's total time in space to 366 days, Space reports.
Currently crewing the space lab are NASA astronaut and Expedition 30 Commander Dan Burbank, alongside RosCosmos flight engineers Anatoly Ivanishin and Anton Shkaplerov. They will be joined by three more astronauts on December 23.
The second leg of the crew is made up of European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Andre Kuipers, RosCosmos flight engineer Oleg Kononenko and NASA astronaut Don Pettit. The trio will launch aboard the Soyuz TMA-03M space capsule.
“The time has gone by in a flash. The calendar says five-and-a-half months. To me, it seems more like five-and-a-half weeks. If you ask my wife, it's probably more like five-and-a-half years,” Fossum said shortly after landing.