Trio From International Space Station Lands Safely in Kazakhstan

July 01, 2012

Joshua Buck
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
jbuck@nasa.gov

Kelly Humphries
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
kelly.o.humphries@nasa.gov

RELEASE: 12-222

TRIO FROM INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION LANDS SAFELY IN KAZAKHSTAN

HOUSTON -- Three members of the Expedition 31 crew undocked from the
International Space Station and returned safely to Earth Sunday, July
1, wrapping up a mission that lasted six-and-a-half months.

Russian Commander Oleg Kononenko, NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit and
European Space Agency Flight Engineer Andre Kuipers landed their
Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft in Kazakhstan at 3:14 a.m. CDT (2:14 p.m.
local time) after undocking from the space station's Rassvet module
at 11:47 p.m. June 30. The trio, which arrived at the station Dec.
23, 2011, spent a total of 193 days in space, 191 of which were
aboard the station.

During their expedition, the crew supported more than 200 scientific
investigations involving more than 400 researchers around the world.
The studies ranged from integrated investigations of the human
cardiovascular and immune systems to fluid, flame and robotic
research.

Before leaving the station, Kononenko handed over command of
Expedition 32 to the Russian Federal Space Agency's Gennady Padalka,
who remains aboard the station with NASA astronaut Joe Acaba and
Russian cosmonaut Sergei Revin. NASA astronaut Sunita Williams,
Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide will join them July 17. Williams,
Malenchenko and Hoshide are scheduled to launch July 14 from the
Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

On June 25, Pettit celebrated achieving one cumulative year in space,
combining his time in orbit on Expedition 6, Expedition 30/31 and the
STS-126 space shuttle Endeavour flight to the station in November
2008. Pettit now has 370 days in space, placing him fourth among U.S.
space fliers for the longest time in space.

During Expedition 31, Pettit also used household objects aboard the
station to perform a variety of unusual physics experiments for the
video series "Science Off the Sphere." Through these demonstrations,
Pettit showed more than a million Internet viewers how space affects
scientific principles.

To watch "Science Off the Sphere" videos, visit:

http://www.physicscentral.com/sots

To follow Twitter updates from NASA's Expedition 31 and 32 astronauts,
visit:

http://twitter.com/Astro_Suni

https://twitter.com/AstroAcaba

https://twitter.com/Aki_Hoshide

For more information about Expedition 32 and the space station, visit:


http://www.nasa.gov/station


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