Canada’s popular astronaut back on earth
Posted May 13, 2013 9:05 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
MOSCOW (NEWS1130) -He’s made his way back to earth. Commander Chris Hadfield with the Canadian Space Agency has landed after spending five months on the International Space Station.
A Soyuz capsule carrying Commander Chris Hadfield and two other crew members reached an open field in Kazakhstan safely amid sunny weather and clear skies.
A commentator from NASA TV describes the seconds leading to the moment the vehicle hit the ground safely at 7:31 PT.
“Reported altitude right now for the craft is now 900 meters coming form the search and recovery forces. As you can see on scene the Russian M-I 8 helicopters are circling the landing zone… The parachute coming down, and the plume coming up from the soft landing engines, and an unofficial landing time now at 9:31 p.m. central time. Three former expedition crew members returning to earth.”
Rescue crews were standing nearby for recovery.
Roman Romanenko of the Russian Space Agency and Tom Marshburn with NASA were with Hadfield in the cramped aircraft. The pair were the same two he blasted off with back in December of last year.
It will be at least three years before the next Canadian astronaut visits the space station. The 53-year-old is the first Canadian to command the giant orbiting lab during his stay.
