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Tense
Moments Mark Safe Return of All-Ham Expedition 6 Crew
 Now back on Earth: Preparing
for their return flight, Expedition 6 crew members--attired in their Sokol
spacesuits--pose in the Zvezda Service Module of the ISS. (L-R)
Don Pettit, KC5MDT, Nikolai Budarin, RV3FB, and Ken Bowersox, KC5JBP. [NASA Photo] |
 New crew:
Expedition 7 Commander Yuri Malenchenko, RK3DUP (right), and NASA ISS Science
Officer Ed Lu, KC5WKJ, pause on the Soyuz stand at Baikonur Cosmodrome in
Kazakhstan prior to their launch. Now aboard the ISS, Malenchenko and Lu will
spend some six months in space. [NASA Photo by Bill Ingalls]
|
 Ready for the return
trip: The Soyuz TMA-2 spacecraft that carried the
Expedition 7 crew into space is docked to the Zarya Functional Cargo Block
(FGB) on the ISS. [NASA Photo] |
 Joint press
conference: Expedition 6 and 7 crew members last
week responded to reporters' questions from space. |
NEWINGTON, CT, May 5, 2003--The International Space Station's all-ham
Expedition 6 crew of Commander Ken Bowersox, KD5JBP; Flight Engineer Nikolai
Budarin, RV3FB, and NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit, KD5MDT, is back on
Earth. Bowersox and Pettit became the first NASA astronauts to travel home from
the ISS on a Russian Soyuz TMA-1 vehicle and the first to land
in a foreign country. But their return trip was not without incident.
After undocking from the ISS May 3 at 2243 UTC, Bowersox, Pettit and
Budarin touched down May 4 at 0207 UTC in Kazakhstan--some 285 miles shy of
their intended target--after spending more than five months aboard the ISS. The
unexpected turn of events led to some tense moments in the Russian mission
control center, where space officials of both countries had been carefully
monitoring the crew's return.
Search aircraft eventually made radio contact with the crew members and
were able to locate them about 2-1/2 hours after touchdown. The trio was said
to be outside the Soyuz, waving their arms. It was another two hours before
recovery helicopters arrived to pick up the crew from the remote Kazakh
steppes. Reports indicate that all three are in good health, but NASA sent in
two flight surgeons and medical supplies to the Central Asia landing site just
in case.
It's not clear why the advanced-model Soyuz TMA--the first of its
generation to land on Earth--undershot its intended landing zone. News accounts
indicate the vehicle inexplicably took a steeper and faster "ballistic"
re-entry trajectory instead of a more-controlled landing approach. Russian
space officials have promised an investigation. The Soyuz will handle all crew
transport to and from the ISS while the US shuttle fleet remains grounded
following the Columbia disaster February 1. The grounding of the shuttle
fleet forced Bowersox, Pettit and Budarin to spend another two months in space
while US and Russian space officials worked out crew-exchange arrangements.
After a stop at Baikonur Cosmodrome--the intended landing site--NASA
says the crew is scheduled to head first for Star City, Russia. There, at the
Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, they'll be reunited with their families, and
they'll undergo physical rehabilitation after months of living in a weightless
environment and a debriefing. Bowersox and Pettit are slated to return to
Houston in mid-May.
Before leaving the space station, Bowersox handed over control of the
ISS to Expedition 7 Commander Yuri Malenchenko, RK3DUP, during a formal
change-of-command ceremony. Malenchenko and NASA ISS Science Officer Ed Lu,
KC5WKJ, arrived on the ISS April 28 aboard a Soyuz TMA-2 spacecraft for a
six-month duty tour. They will depart the station in early November.
Amateur Radio on the International Space
Station (ARISS) school group contacts will remain on hold for the next few
weeks as the new crew settles in and takes care of its initial duties. ARISS is an international project with
US participation by ARRL, NASA and AMSAT.
Page last modified: 01:57 PM, 05 May 2003 ET
Page author: awextra@arrl.org
Copyright © 2003, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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