After a bonus day in space, a NASA astronaut and her two Russian crewmates are back on terra firma, thanks to some impromptu electrical jiggering to free their stuck Soyuz capsule from a docking port on the International Space Station.
SLIDE SHOW: Five Space Station Amenities
Commander Alexander Skvortsov, NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko landed Saturday in Kazakhstan, completing a six-month stay on the station. Their replacements are due to launch Oct. 7, joining newly named commander Doug Wheelock and flight engineers Shannon Walker and Fyodor Yurchikhin, who remain aboard the outpost.
WIDE ANGLE: Supplying the Space Station
The returning crew were due home a day earlier but an electrical short left them unable to free their Soyuz capsule from the Piosk docking module. They headed back into the station while ground controllers figured out how to retract hooks on the Piosk side of the docking mechanism. A batch of jumper cables did the trick, bypassing a faulty sensor, and the crew undocked without incident Friday night.
Image: Home sweet home after 176 days in orbit. Credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA
Tags: Astronauts, NASA, Space Station
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