Apr 8 2009
From The Space Library
NASA astronaut E. Michael Fincke, Russian cosmonaut Yuri V. Lonchakov, and spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi, who had visited the ISS for the second time, landed safely in a Soyuz spacecraft in the steppes of southern Kazakhstan after undocking from the station on 7 April. The Russian federal space agency Roscosmo had delayed the landing for one day after discovering that spring flooding had affected the original landing site. Roscosmo had moved the landing to a location further south. Fincke and Lonchakov were returning from Expedition 18. During that expedition, the ISS had gained full power and had begun water-supply recycling in preparation for the station’s first six-person crew. In addition, the crew of Expedition 18 had performed scientific experiments, including many experiments designed to gather information about the effects of long-duration spaceflight on the human body.
NASA, “Space Station Crew Lands in Soyuz After Successful Mission,” news release 09-081, 8 April 2009, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/apr/HQ_09-081_Exp18_Landing.html (accessed 17 May 2011); Associated Press, “U.S. Space Tourist’s Return Put Off by a Day,” 3 April 2009.
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