Sunita takes over command at space station
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A three-member crew of the Expedition 32 returned safely to earth, wrapping up a mission lasting more than four months.
The
three-man crew onboard a Russian-made Soyuz capsule touched down
successfully in central Kazakhstan steppe on Monday morning after
spending 123 days at the Space Station.
Just
after the Soyuz spacecraft separated from the space station on Sunday,
NASA astronaut Sunita Williams took over command of Expedition 33 at the
station from Commander Gennady Padalka, becoming the second woman in
history to do so.
46-year-old Williams will be sharing the Space Station with veteran Russia
cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide until
mid-October, when three more astronauts, including NASA astronaut Kevin
Ford, will arrive and round out the full crew of Expedition 33.
"I
would like to thank our (Expedition) 32 crew mates here who have taught
us how to live and work in space, and of course to have a lot of fun up
in space," Williams told Padalka during a change of command ceremony.
Flight
Engineer Joe Acaba of NASA, Padalka and Flight Engineer Sergei Revin of
the Russian Federal Space Agency, landed north of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan on Monday morning.
They arrived at the station on 17th May and spent 125 days in space, 123 of which were aboard the orbiting laboratory.
The
trio are expected to have a difficult time readjusting to life on
earth, especially Revin and Acaba, who are coming off their first
long-term stay aboard the orbiting international space lab, NASA sources
said.
"The
goal is to get their strength and all their function back to their
preflight baseline," said NASA flight medical officer Steve Gilmore of
the rehabilitation programs the three will undergo.
"In 45 days, with folks working hard, typically we get people to where they were before they launched."
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