US-Russian space crew returns to earth safely

Soyuz TMA-2 capsule with Yuri Malenchenko of Russia, Pedro Duque of Spain and Edward Lu of the US lands near Arkalyk, about 330 km southwest of Astana yesterday. A crew, which has been manning the International Space Station for six months, touched the Earth safely and on target yesterday after a faulty touchdown earlier this year. PHOTO: AFP

Russian Yuri Malenchenko, American Edward Lu and Pedro Duque of Spain landed in their Soyuz TMA-2 capsule at 0240 GMT. Technicians said they took steps to prevent a rough "ballistic" landing like that endured by the last team to return from the ISS.

In May, a US-Russian three-man crew in an identical capsule landed hundreds of kilometers off target. Rescuers spent hours searching for crew members, who managed to crawl out of the descent capsule. The ship's radio antenna had been broken.

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But on Tuesday both crew and space officials were happy with the landing on a hazy morning in Arkalyk, 330km southwest of the Kazakh capital Astana.

NASA spokesman Robert Navias told reporters the landing was phenomenal. "It was a dream landing. It's almost as if they (Russians) hit an x-mark on the ground."

"They have landed. Everything is fine, soft landing engines have worked. Everything went according to plan," a spokesman for the Central Space Control in Moscow told Reuters.