spacetoday.net: Soyuz carrying ISS crew returns to Earth

Posted: Tue, Oct 11, 2005, 8:59 AM ET (1259 GMT)
Soyuz TMA-2 landing

A Soyuz spacecraft carrying a two-member ISS crew and a space tourist landed safely in Kazakhstan on Tuesday. The Soyuz TMA-6 capsule landed about 85 kilometers northeast of the town of Arkalyk in north-central Kazakhstan at 9:09 pm EDT Monday (0109 GMT Tuesday), about three and a half hours after undocking from the station. On board the spacecraft were Expedition 11 crew members Sergei Krikalev and John Phillips, who spent six months on the station. Also on board was Greg Olsen, the American businessman who flew to the station at the beginning of the month on the Soyuz TMA-7 spacecraft along with the Expedition 12 crew, which remained on the station. There was an unexpected communications blackout for several minutes during reentry, causing worries among flight controllers until contact was reestablished.