spacetoday.net: Soyuz lands safely in Kazakhstan

Posted: Fri, Apr 27, 2012, 1:59 PM ET (1759 GMT)
Soyuz TMA-22 landing (NASA)

A Soyuz spacecraft carrying three ISS crewmembers landed safely on the steppes of Kazakhstan on Friday. The Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft touched down near Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, at 7:45 am EDT (1145 GMT), three and a half hours after undocking from the space station. On board the Soyuz was NASA astronaut Dan Burbank and Roscosmos cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Anton Shkaplerov, who spent five a half months in space. The landing went as planned and the crew was in good condition as they left the capsule. Three people remain on the ISS: Don Pettit of NASA, Andre Kuipers of ESA, and Oleg Kononenko of Roscosmos. They will be joined by Russians Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin and American Joseph Acaba in mid May when they launch on Soyuz TMA-04M.