Trio who lived on space station return to Earth safely

AP Newsroom
October 22, 2020 11:30 MYT

In this handout photo released by Roscosmos Space Agency, the Soyuz-2.1a rocket booster with Soyuz MS-17 space ship carrying a new crew to the International Space Station (ISS) blasts off at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. APpic

MOSCOW: A trio of space travelers safely returned to Earth on Thursday after a six-month mission on the International Space Station.

A Soyuz capsule carrying NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, and Roscosmos’ Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner landed on the steppes of Kazakhstan southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan at 7:54 a.m. Thursday. After a medical checkup, the three will be taken by helicopters to Dzhezkazgan from where they will be flown home.

As part of additional precautions due to the coronavirus, members of the Russian rescue team meeting the crew were tested for the virus and the number of people involved in the recovery effort was limited.

Cassidy, Ivanishin and Vagner had lived on the station since April.

NASA’s Kate Rubins and Roscosmos’ Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov arrived at the orbiting outpost a week ago for a six-month stay.

#NASA #Cassidy #Ivanishin #Vagner #International Space Station #Kate Rubins #Sergey Ryzhikov #Sergey Kud-Sverchkov