- Title: KAZAKHSTAN: INTERNATIONAL SPACE CREW RETURN TO EARTH.
- Date: 25th April 2005
- Summary: (BN05) ARKALYK, KAZAKHSTAN (APRIL 25, 2005) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SHOTS) 1. LV: RESCUE HELICOPTERS ARRIVING AT LANDING SITE 0.04 2. MV/CU: RESCUERS OPENING HATCH OF CAPSULE WITH COSMONAUTS; RESCUERS TAKING US ASTRONAUT LEROY CHIAO OUT OF THE CAPSULE; RESCUERS TAKING RUSSIAN COSMONAUT SALIZHAN SHARIPOV OUT OF THE CAPSULE (4 SHOTS) 0.54 3. LV: HELICOPTERS LANDING 0.59 4. MV: RESCUERS CARRYING LEROY CHIAO WHO IS SAYING "I FEEL GREAT" 1.16 5. MCU: SALIZHAN SHARIPOV CALLING HIS FAMILY 1.22 6. CU: DOCTOR WIPING FACE OF LEROY CHIAO 1.28 7. MCU: ITALIAN ASTRONAUT ROBERTO VITTORI SHOWING THAT HE FEELS GOOD 1.39 8. MV/ZOOM OUT/GV: SHARIPOV, CHIAO AND VITTORI HOLDING HANDS 1.47 9. GV: SUNRISE 1.53 10. MV/PAN/GV: SALIZHAN SHARIPOV, LEROY CHIAO AND ROBERTO VITTORI WITH FLOWERS ENTERING THE AIRPORT BUILDING IN KUSTANAI, NORTHERN KAZAKHSTAN 2.06 11. GV/MV: LOCAL KAZAKH OFFICIALS GIVING COSMONAUTS TRADITIONAL KAZAKH COAT AND HAT; LEROY CHIAO BEN PRESENTED WITH KAZAKH COAT AND HAT; ROBERTO VITTORI BEING PRESENTED WITH KAZAKH COAT AND HAT (3 SHOTS) 2.28 12. MV: CUTAWAY OF OFFICIALS 2.35 13. GV: COSMONAUTS SITTING AT A CEREMONY 2.38 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 10th May 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ARKALYK, KAZAKHSTAN
- Country: Kazakhstan
- Reuters ID: LVA41D33LXI622GCRFWUSKDNS3IH
- Story Text: Russian, U.S., Italian space crew return to Earth.
A Russian Soyuz capsule bumped down on the Kazakh
steppe early on Monday, bringing a Russian, an American and
an Italian astronaut safely back to Earth from the
International Space Station.
The landing, under a nearly full moon two hours before
daybreak, was complicated by flooding on the steppe, a flat
featureless expanse that covers much of the Central Asian
state.
Just three of 10 search and recovery helicopters were
able to land in the waterlogged conditions, following weeks
of heavy snow and rain, to extract the space crew.
The craft touched down near Arkalyk in northern
Kazakhstan at 2:08 a.m. Moscow time (2208 GMT).
The landing involved the cramped Soyuz capsule
unfurling a large orange parachute after entering the
atmosphere and firing a final burst of rockets to dampen
the impact as it landed on the steppe.
Russian Salizhan Sharipov and American Leroy Chiao, who
have manned the station since last October, returned with
Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori, who spent 10 days in
space, having accompanied the two-man crew that relieved
Sharipov and Chiao.
Once extracted from Soyuz, the three were flown by
helicopter to a disused airport at Arkalyk, where Russia's
space agency set up a hospital tent to check their health
before a further helicopter and airliner flight to Moscow.
Soyuz rockets have been the sole means of sending crews
to the ISS since the U.S. shuttle Columbia disintegrated in
February 2003 over Texas, killing all seven astronauts on
board.
NASA last week pushed back the earliest possible launch
for the first space shuttle mission since the Columbia
crash to allow more time to review safety assessments and
design changes.
The U.S. agency now plans its first shuttle flight on
May 22 at the earliest in a window that runs to June 3.
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