A Russian Soyuz capsule carrying three of the International Space Station's six crew members suffered an unexpected communications black out just before plunging back into Earth's atmosphere late Thursday, completing a nail-biting descent in radio silence with repeated calls from flight controllers near Moscow going unanswered.
Finally, recovery crews in Kazakhstan spotted the Soyuz TMA-21's braking parachute, communications with ground crews were established and the spacecraft touched down at 11:59:39 p.m. EDT (GMT-4) Thursday, tipping over on its side as it closed out an expedition lasting 164 days five hours and 41 minutes since launch April 4 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
"The Soyuz TMA-21 has landed," Rob Navias, NASA mission control commentator in Houston, reported. "A bulls-eye landing for the Soyuz TMA-21, 10 a.m. Kazak time Friday morning."
Russian recovery crews, along with NASA flight surgeons and space station program managers, were standing by to help Soyuz commander Alexander Samokutyaev, Andrey Borisenko and NASA flight engineer Ronald Garan out of the cramped descent module as they begin their re-adaptation to gravity after five-and-a-half months in space.
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