Happy landing! Space crew back on Earth

19 Apr, 2008 14:07 / Updated 16 years ago

A Russian capsule carrying crew from the International Space Station has landed. Russian cosmonaut Yury Malenchenko, U.S. astronaut Peggy Whitson and the first South Korean in space, Yi So-yeon, came down in the Kazakh steppe on Saturday, about 400km shor

Mission Control says the space ship touched down 420km to the right of the landing site at 12.51 Moscow time, about 20 minutes later than expected. All three crew members are said to be 'feeling well'.  It's reported that the capsule did not make a regular descent but came in at a steeper angle, known as a 'ballistic trajectory'. The Russian and U.S. astronauts had spent over six months at the station, while the Korean astronaut was there for nine days. U.S. astronaut Peggy Wilson became the first female crew commander ever. Yuri Malenchenko conducted a seven-hour-long spacewalk during his stay at the station and he managed to vote twice while in orbit, during Russia's parliamentary and presidential elections.