spacetoday.net: Soyuz returns three ISS crewmembers to Earth

Soyuz returns three ISS crewmembers to Earth

Posted: Mon, Nov 11, 2013, 7:05 AM ET (1205 GMT)
Soyuz TMA-09M landing (NASA)

A Soyuz spacecraft carrying three International Space Station crewmembers from Italy, Russia, and the United States landed safely in Kazakhstan early Monday. The Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft landed on target in Kazakhstan at 9:49 pm EST Sunday (0249 GMT, 8:49 am local time Monday), a little more than three hours after undocking from the ISS. The Soyuz carried three people who spent 166 days in space: American astronaut Karen Nyberg, Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano, and Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin. The three also brought back to Earth an Olympic torch that had been launched to the station on another Soyuz spacecraft on Thursday, and carried outside the station during a spacewalk Saturday.