spacetoday.net: Soyuz spacecraft returns to Earth

Posted: Fri, Nov 26, 2010, 10:22 AM ET (1522 GMT)
Soyuz TMA-19 capsule landing (NASA)

A Soyuz spacecraft carrying three ISS crewmembers safely landed early Friday in Kazakhstan. The Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft landed northeast of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, as planned at 11:46 pm EST Thursday (0446 GMT, 10:46 am local time Friday). On board the spacecraft were American astronauts Doug Wheelock and Shannon Walker and Russia cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, who spent 163 days in space, 161 on the ISS. The landing was moved up from the end of the month to avoid airspace conflicts with a summit meeting in Kazakhstan. Three people, American Scott Kelly and Russians Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka, are still on the station; they will be joined in mid-December by American Catherine Coleman, Russian Dmitry Kondratyev and ESA's Paolo Nespoli.