International Space Station Astronauts Land Safely in Kazakhstan

Sept. 16, 2012

Trent J. Perrotto
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
trent.j.perrotto@nasa.gov

Jenny Knotts
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
norma.j.knotts@nasa.gov

RELEASE: 12-325

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION ASTRONAUTS LAND SAFELY IN KAZAKHSTAN

HOUSTON -- Three members of the Expedition 32 crew undocked from the
International Space Station and returned safely to Earth on Sunday,
wrapping up a mission lasting more than four months.

Flight Engineer Joe Acaba of NASA, and Commander Gennady Padalka and
Flight Engineer Sergei Revin of the Russian Federal Space Agency,
undocked their Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft from the space station at
7:09 p.m. EDT and landed north of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, at 10:53 p.m.
(8:53 a.m., Sept. 17, Kazakhstan time). The trio arrived at the
station May 17 and spent 125 days in space, 123 of which were aboard
the orbiting laboratory.

After the Soyuz spacecraft separated from the space station, NASA
astronaut Sunita Williams took command of Expedition 33. Williams is
the second woman to command the station. She and her crewmates,
Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan
Aerospace Exploration Agency, will work aboard the station as a
three-person crew until the arrival of three new crew members,
including NASA astronaut Kevin Ford, in mid-October.

Acaba, Padalka and Revin orbited Earth 2,000 times and traveled
52,906,428 miles. Padalka now ranks fourth for the most days spent in
space -- a total of 711 days during four flights.

To follow Twitter updates from NASA's Expedition 33 astronauts, visit:


http://twitter.com/Astro_Suni


and


https://twitter.com/Aki_Hoshide

For more information about the International Space Station and its
crew, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station


-end-



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