Soyuz TMA-01M and its three International Space Station Expedition 26 crew members are back on Earth after 159 days in space.
Soyuz commander Alexander Kaleri, station commander Scott Kelly and flight engineer Oleg Skripochka landed in their Soyuz TMA-01M spacecraft at 2:54 a.m. CDT Wednesday, March 16 (1:54 p.m. local time) near Arkalyk, Kazakhstan.
[b]TMA-01M lands on the snowy Kazakhstan steppe.[/b] Credit: Dmitry Kostyukov/Pool
The first of Russia's "digital" Soyuz upgraded with modern navigation equipment, TMA-01M completed its maiden mission by landing safely on its side on the snow-covered steppe.
First out of the spacecraft was Kaleri, who with this flight is now the second most experienced space traveler in history with 770 days in space over the course of his five missions. He is surpassed only by Sergei Krikalev, the head of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, who spent 803 days in space on his six flights.
This was Skripochka's first space flight and Kelly's third, the latter having previously flown twice on the space shuttle. Kelly, whose twin brother Mark is set to command the next shuttle mission to launch to the station on April 19, has now logged 180 days in space.
Credit: NASA TV
During their 157 days aboard the station, Kelly, Kaleri and Skripochka worked with their Expedition 25 and 26 crewmates on more than 150 experiments in human research; biology and biotechnology; physical and material sciences; technology development; and Earth and space sciences.
A quick succession of visiting vehicles arrived at the station during Expedition 26. The Japanese Kounotori2 H-II Transfer Vehicle 2; the Russian cargo ship Progress M-09M (41P); the European "Johannes Kepler" Automated Transfer Vehicle 2; and space shuttle Discovery delivered more than 11 tons of supplies necessary for working and living aboard the orbiting laboratory.
Working in the arctic conditions at the landing site, Russian recovery teams were on hand to help the cosmonauts and astronaut exit the Soyuz and adjust to gravity. Kaleri and Skripochka will return to the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, outside of Moscow, while Kelly will fly directly home to Houston.