ARKALYK, Kazakhstan (AP) — A capsule carrying Brazil's first astronaut, along with a Russian and an American, landed in the Kazakh steppe early Sunday after returning from the international space station.
American astronaut Bill McArthur, Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev and Brazilian Marcos Pontes touched down on target and on schedule.
Officials at Russia's Mission Control in Korolyov, outside Moscow, reported that the capsule had been in radio contact for much of the 3 1/2-hour journey and that all three crew members were feeling well.
McArthur and Tokarev had spent more than six months on the space station. They were replaced by Russian commander Pavel Vinogradov and U.S. flight engineer Jeff Williams, who arrived at the station together with Pontes on April 1. Pontes had traveled to the station for a weeklong stint.
The American space program has depended on the Russians for cargo and astronaut delivery since the February 2003 Columbia explosion grounded the shuttle fleet. The shuttle Discovery visited the station last July but problems with the external fuel tank's foam insulation have cast doubt on when shuttles might return to flying.
More than 15 helicopters and other aircraft and some 150 salvage crew were deployed to the town of Arkalyk in northern Kazakhstan, where the Soyuz capsule was expected to land, said Vladimir Popov, the head of the Russian space search and rescue service, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency.
After landing and leaving the capsule — sometimes on their own, sometimes with the aid of ground crew — the astronauts are given quick medical checks, welcomed at a Kazakh ceremony and then flown to the Star City space training complex outside Moscow for further medical examinations.