spacetoday.net: Soyuz lands in Kazakhstan

Posted: Fri, Apr 30, 2004, 8:00 AM ET (1200 GMT)
Soyuz TMA-2 landing

A Soyuz spacecraft carrying three astronauts from the International Space Station safely landed in Kazakhstan early Friday. The Soyuz TMA-3 spacecraft landed on target at 8:12 pm EDT Thursday (0012 GMT Friday) near the town of Arkalyk in north-central Kazakhstan. On board the Soyuz was the Expedition 8 ISS crew of Michael Foale and Alexander Kaleri, who had spent the last six months in space, as well as Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers, who flew to the station earlier this month on the Soyuz TMA-4 spacecraft along with the Expedition 9 crew. A helium leak on the spacecraft reported earlier this week did not cause any problems with the reentry or landing, and all three members of the crew were reported to be in good health.