Snowy Soyuz Touchdown!

By Nancy Atkinson - March 18, 2010 at 8:13 AM UTC | Space Exploration
soyuz-reentry1.jpg

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In what was likely a softer --albeit colder -- Soyuz landing than usual, ISS Expedition 22 astronaut Jeff Williams and cosmonaut Max Suraev landed their Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft on the snowy steppes of Kazakhstan Thursday, wrapping up a five-and-a-half-month stay aboard the International Space Station. The entire process of undocking and re-entry of the Soyuz was captured by the newest and hottest space photographer, Soichi Noguchi, (

@Astro_Soichi

) who has been sending down amazing Twitpics from space. See his very unique images below.

[caption id="attachment_60023" align="aligncenter" width="580" caption="Soyuz reentry captured by Soichi Noguchi on the ISS. "Looooong trail of Soyuz re-entry. See the shadow over "lower" cloud layer? Left side is Caspian Sea. Welcome home, Jeff and Max!" Noguchi wrote."]

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Suraev was at the controls of the spacecraft as it undocked at 8:03 GMT (4:03 a.m. EDT) from the station's Poisk module. The duo landed at 11:24 GMT (7:24 a.m. EDT) at a site northeast of the Kazakh town of Arkalyk. The recovery teams had to work in frigid temperatures to help the crew exit the Soyuz and readjust to gravity, and then transport them to the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, outside of Moscow.

[caption id="attachment_60024" align="aligncenter" width="580" caption="Soyuz departing from the ISS. Credit: NASA/JAXA/Soichi Noguchi "]

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"Fly safe my friends!" wrote

@Astro_Soichi

.

See all of Noguchi's photos at his

Twitpic page.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com