Soyuz TMA-10 has landed!

October 21, 2007
Soyuz TMA-10 has landed! Landing confirmed at 6:36 p.m. (Malaysia time).

Recovery crews are on the ground near the Soyuz. The spacecraft landed nearly upright and the crew is safe.

Soon after entering the atmosphere, the crew notified mission managers in Russia that they had entered a ballistic descent for unexplained reasons, which caused the spacecraft to land short of its intended target.

Plunging back to Earth from west to east over central Kazakhstan, the flight plan called for a landing near the town of Arkalyk. But for reasons yet to be explained, the Soyuz flew a steeper-than-planned trajectory and landed short of the intended touchdown point, subjecting the crew to higher-than-normal braking forces. It was the first "ballistic" re-entry since the Soyuz TMA-1 spacecraft returned on May 3, 2003, with the space station's sixth full time crew.

According to mission managers, Soyuz TMA-10 landed approximately 340 kilometers (211 miles) west of the town of Arkalyk, where the recovery crews had been staged. There was no live television coverage of the landing. But NASA commentator Rob Navias, monitoring the re-entry from the Johnson Space Center's mission control in Houston, said Russian recovery forces aboard search aircraft spotted the capsule as it descended under its main parachutes at an altitude of about 5,000 feet. Russian flight controllers said recovery crews contacted the cosmonauts during the final moments of the descent and were told the crew was in good shape.

All three crew members are now out of the vehicle and are being tended to by medical teams. The crew will be flown by helicopter to Kustanai, Kazakhstan, to meet up with other recovery personnel, before returning to Star City, Russia.