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Previous mission: Soyuz TMA-8

The mission of the Soyuz TMA-9 (No. 219) spacecraft (the ISS mission 13S) in the fall of 2006 had a goal of delivering and returning the 14th long-duration crew to the International Space Station. The launch was scheduled for September 14, 2006.

Expedition 14 crew consisted of Michael E. Lopez-Alegria, commander and NASA space station science officer and Flight Engineer and cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, flight engineer, representing Russia's Federal Space Agency. NASA Flight Engineer Sunita Williams was expected to join Expedition 14 in progress and serve as a flight engineer after traveling to the station on Space Shuttle mission STS-116.

In the meantime, a remaining third seat onboard Soyuz TMA-9, which carried Expedition 14 to the station, was offered to commercial passengers.

On August 21, 2006, Chief Medical Commission disqualified Japanese businessman Daisuke Enomoto, who was first in line for this seat, from flying due to health problems. Anousheh Ansari, an Iranian-born US businesswoman, was expected to take his seat, as a commercial passenger. She started training in Star City on April 4, 2006, originally, as a backup to Enomoto. The final meeting of the medical commission, which would officially name the crew was expected on Aug. 30, 2006.

On September 2, 2006, the crew was scheduled to depart for Baikonur for familiarization with the flight hardware planned for the next day.

At the time, the launch was still expected on September 14, 2006.

Pre-launch processing

Aug. 28: Work started at Site 1 in Baikonur, preparing the launch of the Soyuz TMA-9 mission.

Aug. 30: The crew of the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft participated in a press-conference in Star City.

Aug. 31: Roskosmos made a decision to delay the launch of the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft from Sept. 14, 09:44 Moscow Summer Time, to Sept. 18, 2006, to avoid a schedule conflict with the Space Shuttle mission to the ISS caused by the weather problems at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Sept. 2: Tu-154 and Tu-134 landed at Krainiy airport in Baikonur at 12:50 and 13:15 Moscow Time, delivering primary and backup crews of the Soyuz-TMA-9 spacecraft, Roskosmos said. The use of two different planes for the transportation of the crews apparently marked the resumption of a tradition, which was long abandoned to save money in the wake of the post-Soviet collapse.

Expedition 14 milestones (as of September 2006):

2006

Sept. 18 (Originally Sept. 14): Soyuz TMA-9 (Mission 13S, Expedition 14) Launch

Sept. 19 (originally Sept. 15): Progress (Mission 21P) undocking

Sept. 20: Soyuz TMA-9 (Mission 13S, Expedition 14) docking to ISS

Sept. 29: Soyuz TMA-8 undocking

Oct. 10: Soyuz redocking from aft port of Zvezda service module to nadir port of the Zarya FGB module

Oct. 18: Progress launch

Nov. 22: Russian EVA No. 17 out of Pirs airlock in Orlan suits (Tyurin, Lopez-Alegria)

Dec. 14: STS-116 (12A.1) launch

Dec. 19: Progress undocking

Dec. 20: Progress (Mission 24P) launch

2007

Jan. 9: Progress (Mission 22P) undocking from Pirs Docking Compartment

Jan. 19: US EVA No. 6 out of Quest airlock (Lopez-Alegria, S. Williams)

Jan. 23: US EVA No. 7 out of Quest airlock (Lopez-Alegria, S. Williams)

Jan. 27: US EVA No. 8 out of Quest airlock (Lopez-Alegria, S. Williams)

Feb. 6: Progress (Mission P24) undocking

Feb. 7: Progress (Mission P25) launch

Feb. 22: STS-117 (13A) launch

March 8: Progress (Mission 23P) undocking

March 9: Soyuz (Mission 14S) Expedition 15 launch

March 19: Soyuz (Mission 13S) Expedition 14 undock

New expedition arrives to the ISS

2006 Sept. 18: The Soyuz-FG rocket, carrying the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft with the 14th long-duration crew of the International Space Station, ISS, lifted off from Site 1 in Baikonur Cosmodrome on Sept. 18, 2006 at 08:08:40 Moscow Time.

Onboard were Michael E. Lopez-Alegria, commander and NASA space station science officer and Flight Engineer and cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, flight engineer, representing Russia's Federal Space Agency. They were accompanied by a paying passenger Anousheh Ansari, an American businesswoman, who will return to Earth with the Expedition 13 crew, after 11 days in orbit. Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin are scheduled to spend 186 days in space.

2006 Sept. 20: The docking of the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft to the aft port of the Zvezda service module of the ISS took place on September 20 at 09:21:20 Moscow Time (0524 GMT), just three minutes ahead of previously announced time and within three minutes deviation built in in the schedule. The hatches between two spacecraft were opened at 12:31 Moscow Time.

Re-docking

2006 Oct. 10: The Soyuz TMA-9 undocked from the aft docking port of the Zvezda service module and after a 20-minute free flight, which took it as far as 35 meters from the station, re-docked to the nadir (Earth-facing) port of the Zarya FGB control module on the Russian segment of the ISS. The vehicle was piloted by Mikhail Tyurin, with Michael E. Lopez-Alegria and Thomas Reiter also onboard.

Station crew works outside, plays golf

2006 Nov. 23: Two Expedition 14 crew members conducted a 5-hour, 38-minute spacewalk from the Pirs docking compartment airlock.

The scheduled 6 p.m. EST start of the spacewalk was delayed because of a cooling issue in Tyurin's suit. Tyurin got out of the suit and straightened a suspect hose which apparently had become kinked. A balky hatch further delayed start of the spacewalk. The hatch of the Pirs Docking compartment was opened at 03:17 Moscow Time, 00:17 GMT on November 23, 2006.

Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin was the lead spacewalker, EV1, and Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria was EV2. Both wore Russian Orlan spacesuits.

The first major spacewalk activity was a golf shot, a commercial activity sponsored by a Canadian golf company through a contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roskosmos.

Lopez-Alegria put the tee on the ladder outside Pirs. Tyurin set up a camera and then stepped up and addressed the ball for his one-handed shot. Lopez-Alegria helped secure Tyurin's feet.

The ball left the station toward the right side instead of to the rear, a substantial slice.

The ball weighs just 3 grams, a tenth of an ounce or about three times the weight of a dollar bill, compared to 1.62 ounces for a standard golf ball. At that weight it was unlikely to damage any station components if the shot had gone awry. The ball was expected to have a short stay in orbit, estimated at three days.

The next task was inspection of a Kurs antenna on the Progress M-58 cargo ship that docked at the aft end of the station's Zvezda Service Module Oct. 26, 2006. Final latching of the spacecraft to the station was delayed by more than three hours because Mission Control Moscow was not sure the antenna was completely retracted.

Tyurin and Lopez-Alegria moved to the rear of Zvezda and photographed the antenna. It was still fully extended, so Tyurin used a screwdriver to release a latch and tried to retract the antenna. Russian flight controllers also tried to retract it by activating a drive. Neither succeeded, and the task was abandoned.

Next they relocated a WAL antenna, which will guide the unpiloted European ATV cargo spacecraft to docking with the station. At the time it was scheduled to make its first flight in 2007. In its previous position the antenna interfered with a cover on a booster engine of the Zvezda service module.

Then the crew installed a BTN neutron experiment, which characterizes charged and neutral particles in low Earth orbit. Atop Zvezda, its readings during solar bursts should be of special interest to scientists.

Two thermal covers from the BTN were jettisoned before the spacewalkers returned to the Pirs airlock.

A final scheduled task, an inspection of bolts on one of two Strela hand-operated cranes on the docking compartment, was postponed.

The work outside was conluded at 12:55 a.m. EST on Nov. 23, 2006.

This was the first spacewalk during Expedition 14, the sixth for Lopez-Alegria and the fourth for Tyurin.

Second try to maneuver station ends successfully

Published: 2006 Nov. 30; updated: Dec. 1, Dec. 4, Dec. 5

The engine burn designed to raise the orbit of the 213-ton International Space Station, ISS, on November 30, 2006, was cut short, as its flight control system detected possible deviation in the orientation of the outpost.

The engine of the Progress M-58 cargo ship docked to the station was fired at 02:05 Moscow Time on November 30, 2006, (6:05 p.m. EST on Nov. 29), as scheduled, however firing was prematurely cut off after 58 seconds, (78 seconds, according to other sources), instead of planned 1,102 seconds, when only around 22 percent of required thrust was delivered. The maneuver was planned in the anticipation of the arrival of the NASA Space Shuttle for a station assembly mission currently scheduled in December 2006.

According to the Russian space agency, Roskosmos, the glitch could be caused by a recent change in the configuration of the outpost after the previous Shuttle assembly mission in September 2006. The STS-115 crew attached a new solar array segment to the main truss of the station, which could have had unforeseen effect on the attitude control during the maneuver. Roskosmos initially said that the second maneuver to complete the orbit correction would be conducted on December 2, 2006, however after consultation with NASA, considered delaying the firing to after the Shuttle visit.

According to Russian sources, the orbit of the station formed by the aborted engine firing still allows the Space Shuttle to blast off on December 7, 2006, and dock to the station two days later, as previously planned. However it would not allow a two-day rendezvous profile, if the Shuttle is launched on Dec. 8, 10, 12 and 14, 2006.

On December 4, 2006, Roskosmos reversed its previous statements, announcing that the orbit correction would take place on December 5, 2006, at 00:36 Moscow Time (21:36 GMT on December 4) and it would last 1,364 seconds. The maneuver was expected to add 4.9 meters per second to the velocity of the station and raise its average altitude by 8.5 kilometers.

After the maneuver, Roskosmos announced that the station's orbit was 363.8 by 335.4 kilometers and that it would enable the Space Shuttle to arrive to the outpost on the third day of its mission, if it is launched during the window extending from December 8 to 23, 2006.

Station crew completes spacewalk hampered by ammonia leak

2007 Jan. 31: International Space Station, ISS, Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Sunita Williams wound up a 7-hour 55-minute spacewalk at 6:09 p.m. EST Wednesday, Jan 31, 2007, NASA announced. Two other spacewalks by the same crewmembers were scheduled to take place on Feb. 4 and Feb. 8, 2007. The first two focus on the reconfiguration of station power and cooling systems to permanent ones.

Lopez-Alegria, the lead spacewalker wearing the suit with red stripes, and Williams, in the all-white suit, began the tasks of the first spacewalk by reconfiguring one of the two cooling loops serving Destiny from the temporary to the permanent system.

Working at the “rats’ nest,” an area near the base of the Z1 Truss with numerous fluid and electrical connections, Lopez-Alegria reconfigured the fluid loop connections, moving two of the fluid lines from the early system from the lab and connecting them back up to the Z1 panel. That will help enable reactivation of the early cooling system if it should be required.

He also connected a cable for the Space Shuttle Power Transfer System (SSPTS). It will allow power from the station’s solar arrays to be transferred to a docked space shuttle, beginning with STS-118 in June 2007.

Next the spacewalkers stood by as the ground retracted the starboard radiator of the P6 Truss. After retraction they installed six cable cinches and two winch bars to secure the radiator and then installed a shroud over it.

Lopez-Alegria and Williams then moved to the Early Ammonia Servicer on the P6 Truss. It provided a contingency supply of ammonia for the Early Ammonia System. With the permanent cooling system working, it is no longer needed.

The spacewalkers removed one of two fluid lines from the servicer, which will be jettisoned this summer. Accordin to NASA, "because of Wednesday time constraints, the second will be removed on a subsequent spacewalk." However the press release by the Russian space agency, Roskosmos, said that the second line was not installed as a result of the ammonia leak.

NASA inderectly confirmed that stating that "about 25 minutes of the spacewalk was spent in a "bakeout" after crew members had re-entered the airlock. It was done as a precaution to prevent any possibility of ammonia from the fluid lines the spacewalkers had worked with entering the station."

The three spacewalks from the Quest airlock in U.S. spacesuits and a Russian spacewalk scheduled for Feb. 22 are the most ever done by station crew members during a single month. If completed, they also would bring to 10 the total number of spacewalks by Lopez-Alegria, an astronaut record. Williams would have a total of four, the most ever by a woman.

Starting from scratch, it takes about 100 crew-member hours to prepare for a spacewalk. By doing spacewalks a few days apart, considerable crew time can be saved by not having to repeat some of those preparatory steps.

Crew Completes Scheduled Spacewalk Tasks, and More

2007 Feb. 4: International Space Station Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Sunita Williams wound up the second of a series of three spacewalks at 3:49 p.m. EST Sunday, completing almost all scheduled tasks and one get-ahead task, NASA said.

The first parts of the Sunday spacewalk, EVA 7, were similar to the previous one, though crew members seemed to work through the now-familiar tasks more smoothly. Lopez-Alegria and Williams began the second spacewalk by reconfiguring the second of the two cooling loops serving Destiny from the temporary to the permanent system.

At the rats’ nest, Lopez-Alegria reconfigured the fluid loop connections, moving the second pair of the fluid lines of the early system from the lab and connecting them back up to the Z1 panel. That will help enable reactivation of the early cooling system if it should be required. Williams reconfigured electrical connections.

Next they stood by as the ground retracted the aft radiator of the P6. After retraction they installed another set of six cable cinches and two winch bars to secure the radiator and then installed a shroud to cover the radiator.

The spacewalkers then completed work with the Early Ammonia Servicer (EAS) on the P6 Truss. It provided a contingency supply of ammonia for the Early Ammonia System. With the permanent system working, it is no longer needed.

During the Jan. 31 spacewalk, Lopez-Alegria and Williams removed and reconnected to a rats' nest fitting one of two lines linking the EAS with the old cooling system. Sunday they removed the second line and reconnected its end. Those tasks were to prepare to jettison the EAS this summer.

Lopez-Alegria then photographed the inboard end of the P6 starboard solar wing, in preparation for its retraction during the STS-117 mission in March.

Williams brought tools and cables to the forward end of the lab, where Lopez-Alegria joined her. Together they worked on routing and installation of the Space Shuttle Power Transfer System (SSPTS) cables. They worked to reroute the SSPTS cables, a job begun on EVA 6, which will allow the shuttle to draw power from the station's solar arrays. Three final connections will be made during the Thursday spacewalk.

The get-ahead task completed was removal of a sunshade from a multiplexer-demultiplexer, a data-relay device.

Back in the airlock Lopez-Alegria and Williams did some precautionary decontamination porcedures after a few ammonia flakes were seen early in the spacewalk.

The third spacewalk was scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. next Thursday, Feb. 8, 2007.

Spacewalkers Successfully Wrap Up Record Series

2007 Feb. 8: With all scheduled tasks and one get-ahead accomplished, International Space Station Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Sunita Williams wound up a 6-hour, 40-minute spacewalk at 3:06 p.m. EST Thursday, Feb 8, 2007.

It was the last in an unprecedented series of three spacewalks in nine days from the Quest airlock. Major tasks of this spacewalk included removing and jettisoning two large shrouds and installation of attachments for cargo carriers.

Lopez-Alegria and Williams moved from the airlock out to Crew Equipment Transfer Aid (CETA) carts on the rails of the main truss. Pushing one cart with their equipment, including a foot restraint, they moved to the Port 3 Truss. Their first job was to remove two thermal shrouds on two Rotary Joint Motor Controllers (RJMC) on P3.

Next they removed two large shrouds from P3 Bays 18 and 20. The shrouds, larger than king-size bed sheets, provide thermal shading. With the station in its present orientation, they are no longer needed. They are being removed to avoid trapping heat.

The spacewalkers worked together to fold each into a package a bit smaller than an outdoor garbage can. They jettisoned them toward the rear of the station to starboard and slightly downward.

That shroud task was followed by deployment of an Unpressurized Cargo Carrier Assembly Attachment System (UCCAS) on the upper face of the P3 truss. That was done in preparation for attachment of a cargo carrier during a subsequent shuttle mission.

While Lopez-Alegria finished work on the UCCAS, Williams moved to the end of the P5 truss to remove two launch locks, to prepare for the relocation of the P6 Truss.

The final scheduled task of the spacewalk was connecting four cables of the Station-to-Shuttle Power Transfer System (SSPTS) to Pressurized Mating Adapter-2 (PMA-2) at the forward end of the Destiny laboratory where shuttles dock. The SSPTS will allow visiting shuttles to take power from the station and thus extend their missions.

Work began on the system during the Jan. 31 spacewalk, and two of the cables were routed and connected to PMA-2 on the Feb. 4 spacewalk. The last four cables were connected to the PMA today.

Lopez-Alegria completed one get-ahead task. He took pictures of the connections on the PMA that provide communications between the station and shuttle while docked and before the hatches are opened.

The three spacewalks from the Quest airlock in U.S. spacesuits and a Russian spacewalk scheduled for Feb. 22, 2007, are the most ever done by station crew members during so short a period. They will bring to 10 the total number of spacewalks by Lopez-Alegria, an astronaut record. Williams has a total of four, the most ever by a woman.

Starting from scratch, it takes about 100 crew-member hours to prepare for a spacewalk. By doing them a few days apart, considerable crew time can be saved by not having to repeat some of those preparatory steps.

On Feb. 22, 2007, Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin are scheduled to do the Russian spacewalk in Russian Orlan suits from the Pirs airlock. They will work on an antenna of the Progress M-58 unpiloted cargo carrier, docked at the aft port of the Zvezda service module.

The antenna did not properly retract when that spacecraft docked in October. The spacewalkers will try to secure or remove the antenna to avoid its interfering with the undocking of Progress M-58 then scheduled in April 2007.

NASA: Station Recovers From Power Loss

2007 Feb. 11: Mission control teams are working to assess systems affected by a power loss aboard the International Space Station early Sunday morning, Feb 11, 2007, NASA said. The station's three crew members were not in any danger, but it did turn an off-duty day into a full work shift.

According to NASA press-release, about 1 a.m. EST, one of the power channels of the P4 solar array electrical system went down because of a glitch with a device known as a direct current switching unit. It controls power distribution from the solar array to the battery systems and other hardware. The glitch resulted in a temporary loss of communications, and shut down some equipment, including a few science facilities and heating units and control moment gyroscope No. 2. The station never lost orientation control, but it operated most of the day with two of four gyros. Control moment gyroscope No. 3 previously had been powered down.

Flight controllers restored power to nearly all affected systems and equipment by Monday morning, Feb, 12, 2007. They are still investigating what caused the glitch, but they believe it was an isolated event.

Station crew fixes antenna during spacewalk

2007 Feb. 22: Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin and Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria from Expedition 14 onboard the International Space Station, ISS, completed a successful six hour 18 minute spacewalk Thursday, closing the hatch of the Pirs docking compartment around 11:45 EST.

At the beginning of the spacewalk, Mikhail Tyurin experienced some problems with his Orlan spacesuit, which required several resets of the suit's sublimation unit. According to NASA, the system did provide adequate cooling of the cosmonaut during the work outside the station.

The spacewalk started at 5:27 a.m. EST on Feb. 22, 2007, during which the crew successfully retracted and secured the balky antenna of the Progress M-58 cargo craft docked to the station, NASA announced. The antenna did not fully retract before the spacecraft docked to the station Oct. 26, 2006, and it could present problems, during the undocking of the cargo ship. The crew had to cut several struts holding the antenna in order to retract it.

The crew also checked navigation systems in preparation for the summer docking of a European cargo craft known as the Automated Transfer Vehicle.

Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin are conducting their increment’s fifth spacewalk – a record for station crews, bringing total time outside the station for Expedition 14 to 33 hours 42 minutes. Since the start of the ISS construction, it was the 81st venture outside.

Station crew moves Soyuz

2007 March 29: International Space Station Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Sunita Williams moved their Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft from the nadir (Earth-facing) port of the station's Zarya module to the aft port of the Zvezda module.

The Soyuz TMA-9 docked at the Zvezda docking port at about 6:54 p.m. EDT after a flight of almost 30 minutes. During that time they traveled about a third of the way around the world. On the station, the Soyuz is about 80 feet from where it started.

The move, with Tyurin at the controls, was made to clear the Zarya port for the arrival of Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov, along with spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi.

Docking their Soyuz TMA-10 to the now-vacant Zarya port after their scheduled April 7, 2007, launch will allow them to avoid a relocation move later in their expedition.

Russia postpones crew return by 24 hours

2007 April 17: A Russian commission responsible for the upcoming landing of the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft made a decision to postpone the return of the vehicle to Earth to Saturday, April 21, 2007, around 16:30 Moscow Time (8:30 a.m. EST), Russian space agency, Roskosmos said. A previous scheduled called for the landing of the Soyuz TMA-9 on April 20, 2007.

The landing is expected to take place 133 kilometers from the town of Dzhezkazgan in Landing Area 7.

The landing commission, which held its first meeting on April 17, 2007, made a decision based on weather conditions reported by the search and rescue teams.

The Soyuz TMA-9 will return to Earth crew members of the 14th long-duration expedition to the International Space Station, ISS and an American tourist, who arrived to the station on April 9, 2007, onboard Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft along with the fresh 15th long-duration crew.

Soyuz TMA-9 successfully lands in Kazakhstan

2007 April 21: Crewmembers of Expedition 14 to the International Space Station, ISS, Michael E. Lopez-Alegria and Mikhail Tyurin along with Charles Simonyi, a space tourist from the US, landed safely in the steppes of Kazakhstan onboard Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft on April 21, 2007 at 7:31:30 a.m. Houston Time (CDT).

The crew return was delayed by 24 hours to shift the landing site from the area flooded by spring rains.

In prepration for landing, hatches between the station and the Soyuz TMA-9 were closed at 1:03 a.m. Houtson Tme (CDT) on April 21. The spacecraft separated from the station at 4:11 a.m. Houston Time and fired its engines to leave the station at 4:14 a.m.

The deorbiting burn was initiated at 6:42 a.m. Houston Time and around 7:24 a.m. Houston Time NASA confirmed nominal parachute deployment.

The landing was observed directly by the rescue helicopter crews, which arrived at the site seconds after the spacecraft touchdown, some two hours before local sunset. The descent module ended up on its side after the landing, which unlike more common vertical position required some extra time to extract the crew from the capsule.

Michael E. Lopez-Alegria and Mikhail Tyurin logged 215 days, 8 hours, 22 minutes and 55 seconds in flight.

After preliminary medical tests, the crew is expected to take a helicopter ride to a nearby city of Karaganda, Kazakhstan, before returting to Star City, Russia.

The Expedition 14 astronauts were replaced onboard the station by a fresh crew, which blasted off from Kazakhstan onboard Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft on April 7, 2007.

Next mission: Soyuz TMA-10

This page is maintained by Anatoly Zak; Last update: May 5, 2012

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The crewmembers of the Soyuz TMA-9 inside the cabin during a ride to orbit. Credit: NASA

The International Space Station as seen by a TV camera onboard approaching Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft on September 20, 2006. Credit: RKK Energia

Crewmembers of the Soyuz TMA-8 and Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft meet onboard the International Space Station on September 20, 2006. Credit: NASA

The Expedition 14 spacewalkers (left) play golf during the Nov. 22, 2006 spacewalk. Credit: NASA TV

The Expedition 14 spacewalkers work on the tail section of the Zvezda service module during the Nov. 22, 2006 spacewalk. Credit: NASA TV

The Expedition 14 spacewalkers work on the WAL antenna during the Nov. 22, 2006 spacewalk. Credit: NASA TV

The Expedition 14 spacewalkers work on the Strela boom (left) during the Nov. 22, 2006 spacewalk. Credit: NASA TV

The Expedition 14 spacewalkers work on the service module during the Nov. 22, 2006 spacewalk. Credit: NASA TV

Stills from the video shot by a rescue helicopter crews show the touchdown of the Soyuz TMA-9 reentry capsule on April 21, 2007, as its soft-landing engines fire, creating a large dust and smoke cloud. Credit: NASA

Camera installed on a ground support and rescue vehicle, shows the descent module of the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft minutes after landing Saturday, April 21, 2007. Credit: NASA

Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin minutes after landing, April 21, 2007. Credit: NASA

American space tourist Charles Simonyi minutes after landing Saturday. Credit: NASA

NASA astropnaut Michael E. Lopez-Alegria talks to rescues and journalists after being the last leaving the Soyuz TMA-9 capsule.