Three Space Station Crew Members Return Home Aboard Soyuz Spacecraft

3 000 orbits of the earth a mission of 78.4 million miles we are just uh less than 31 minutes away from the engine firing of 4 minutes and 39 seconds now that will slow the soyuz down by 128 meters per second to enable the soyuz to drop out of orbit to begin its entry back into the earth's atmosphere and a landing just one hour and 24 minutes from now out in the step of kazakhstan 91 miles to the southeast of the town of jezkasgan where russian search and recovery forces will be awaiting the arrival of these three crew members who have spent uh half a year in space everything is in great shape aboard the soyuz spacecraft all the systems are checked out ready to go just a short time ago just a few minutes ago the director of the cosmonaut training center in star city russia pavel vlassoff who directs the gagarin cosmonaut training center radioed up to the crew that conditions at the landing site are calm and peaceful he's described the air as fresh with low humidity and said the landing site has the smell of spring it smells like freshly cut grass have a good flight home to your home planet those words coming from pavel vlassoff the director of the gagarin cosmonaut we are training center at the airport in the forward staging site for tonight's landing and recovery operations a dozen m.i.a helicopters are set to take off a short time from now most of them heading for the prime landing site to to the southeast of jessica two of the helicopters to move to the midpoint between the landing site and the baikonur cosmodrome in kazakhstan in the event of a ballistic landing the unlikely event of a shortfall in the trajectory of the soyuz back to earth and uh two additional helicopters uh will be poised uh in the vicinity uh all of the bases covered to recover the crew as quickly as possible following their touchdown in their soyuz ms-17 spacecraft the three returning crew members cade rubins of nasa sergey uh rizzakov who's the soyuz ms-17 commander and who was also the expedition 64 commander during this long duration mission aboard the international space station and flight engineer sergey kud zvertkov are in the home stretch of their flight reuben's uh when she lands will have logged 300 days in space on her two flights the fourth most days in space by a u.s female astronaut behind peggy whitson christina cook and sunny williams sergey ryzekov will have logged 185 days in space on his two missions over this increment expeditions 6364 and will have totaled 358 days in space on his two flights good sverchkoff is wrapping up his first flight into space some five hours ago aboard the international space station the three departing crew members had an opportunity one final time to say goodbye to the crew members who are remaining on board the station now part of expedition 65 that officially began with the undocking of the soyuz from the international outpost they had a chance to say farewell to one another and then make their way into the soyuz spacecraft where they subsequently closed the hatches those hatches swung closed at 5 24 pm central time 6 24 pm eastern time after which the three departing crew members began a series of leak checks on their side of the docking interface as did the station crew on their side in the poisk module of the international space station the uh three uh expedition 64 crew members who are coming back to earth this evening kate rubins sergey ryzikov and sergey kudz vertkoff then donned their russian sokol launch and entry suits conducted leak checks on those suits closed the hatches to the uppermost portion of the soyuz spacecraft the orbital module section and configured all of their systems conducted communications checks and everything is in great shape for tonight's landing at 8 34 p.m central time 9 34 pm eastern time as the international space station flew over the mongolian chinese border hooks were opened between the soyuz and the poisk module springs on both sides of the docking interface pushed off against one another and the soyuz was free backing away from the docking port to which it had relocated just a month ago to free up the rossviet module on the earth-facing side of the russian segment of the station for the arrival last week of three new crew members who made their way to the space station that being oleg novitskiy piotr dubrov and nasa's mark vandehei the soyuz slowly backed away there were two firings of soyuz thrusters and a pair of separation burns to maintain an opening rate and increase that opening rate from the international space station the soyuz has now moved to a position some 32 kilometers away from the international space station in preparation for the deorbit burn that will be coming up less than 25 minutes from now 25 minutes of rust deactivation attitude is nominal and the angle is currently 185.5 the deorbit burn is scheduled at 1101 pm central time it again will be a four minute 39 second retrograde firing a breaking maneuver of the soyuz engines to slow the vehicle down by 128 meters per second allowing it to drop out of orbit some 28 minutes after the deorbit burn pyrotechnics will fire to separate the three sections of the soyuz the three crew members on the center section or descent module will feel the g-forces building up around them as they move through the plasma regime of the earth's atmosphere once they exit the plasma regime the command will be given to open up the parachutes 15 minutes before touchdown first a drogue chute followed by a giant main chute and the soyuz will be canted into the correct position for its altimeter to measure its rate of descent and its altitude from the landing site just a few seconds before touchdown soft landing engines will fire and the soyuz will be home with landing scheduled at 11 56 pm central time 10 56 a.m kazakhstan time on saturday morning at the the landing site just a few clouds are noticed at about the 25 000 foot level visibility in excess of six miles the temperature at landing time is expected to be about 64 degrees fahrenheit and ideal saturday spring morning for the homecoming of rubens rizhikov and kud zverchkoff again the russian search and recovery forces are ready to go from the jazz cuz gone airport the various uh recovery team members that includes embedded nasa personnel are already on their respective helicopters at the time of the deorbit burn rotors will be spinning and the helicopters will set off for about a 35 minute helicopter ride from jessica's gone to the landing zone some 91 miles to the southeast they will arrive in a sequential fashion will begin to circle in a racetrack fashion around the landing zone waiting uh for the arrival of the soyuz under its shoots after touchdown those helicopters will land very quickly in sequential fashion again the first of the helicopters will be down to erect an inflatable orange medical tent near the capsule to which the three crew members will be carried in their chairs once they are extracted from the soyuz and have a chance to sit in those chairs for a few minutes to get their land legs back again they'll be carried in those chairs into the medical tent where they'll be helped out of their circle launch and entry suits they'll get into more comfortable clothing they'll undergo a series of medical tests before boarding three helicopters one for each crew member for a two hour fifteen minute flight back uh to uh karaganda kazakhstan which was the initial staging city for tonight's landing operations in karaganda is a nasa jet and gagarin cosmonaut training center aircraft those uh two aircraft will be waiting for the arrival of the crew members who will split up at that point with kate rubins boarding the nasa jet for a flight back to houston and the two cosmonauts boarding their aircraft for a flight back to their training base in star city russia outside of moscow two uh milestones uh following the deorbit burn and you will be hearing soyuz commander sergey rizhikov through an interpreter calling out the duration of the burn and tank pressures and the delta v or the change in velocity as the burn continues for the duration of its four minutes and 39 seconds once the burn is completed the upper most section of the three-section soyuz spacecraft the orbital module will be depressurized about 10 seconds after the completion of the burn that will set the stage for its pyrotechnic separation from the rest of the soyuz vehicle once we have completed the burn about 28 minutes after the deorbit burned prior to the entrance of the descent module with the three crew members back into the earth's atmosphere once the soyuz has moved to a distance of about 120 kilometers away from the international space station we are expecting vhf voice communications to become ratty and perhaps unavailable because of the distance involved in the geometry between the antennas on the soyuz spacecraft and the international space station it will be sometimes we get lucky and the communications hang in there sometimes not so much so we'll see what happens this evening but once the soyuz moves toward the vicinity of the landing site there is a russian antonov 26 space fixed wing aircraft that operates as a flying command and control center through which uh voice and data will be relayed back to russian flight controllers at the russian mission control center outside of moscow so we'll be standing by to see whether or not we hang in there with communications all the way down or lose communications don't be surprised if we go uh with a loss of signal for a period of time and then reacquire communications with the soyuz as it approaches the landing site as we mentioned in our earlier broadcast tonight this is an unprecedented period of human space flight activity at the international space station with 14 astronauts and cosmonauts coming and going from the outpost in four different spacecraft over a three week period this landing tonight is the second of a four act series that will continue next week at the kennedy space center with the schedule launch next thursday on a spacex dragon vehicle the endeavour of shane kimbrough megan mcarthur haki hoshide and tomah pesquet as that multinational crew launches from launch pad 39a at the cape to rendezvous and dock to the international space station to expand the station's population from its current uh seven person crew to an 11 person crew for a period of time a short period of time until the crew one astronauts who launched back in november mike hopkins victor glover soichi niguchi and shannon walker who's the current commander of the international space station until they return their their scheduled undocking and splashdown is scheduled for april 28th so a busy time at the international space station air traffic control definitely uh is the prevailing activity for uh not only the station astronauts and cosmonauts but for uh program officials and the international partnership as they make their way methodically step by step to ensure the safe launch and landing and return to earth of all of these crew members in the continuing permanent human occupancy of the international laboratory to give you a sense of all of the vehicles are currently at the international space station you can see in this graphic uh the current configuration the soyuz ms-17 of course undocked a few hours ago so it's gone ready for its deorbit burn to begin the trip back to earth the soyuz ms-18 that carried mark vande high oleg novitskiy and piotr dubrov to the station a week ago is docked to the earth-facing side of the russian segment of the international space station also present the crew won dragon spacecraft at the zenith or space facing port of the harmony module soon to be joined by a second crew dragon the crew the crew 2 dragon that will dock to the forward port of harmony and you see two unpiloted russian progress cargo ships and the northrop grumman cygnus cargo ship also present at the international space station we're now 14 and a half minutes away from the start of the deorbit burn again a four minute 39 second firing of the soyuz engines to slow it down by 128 meters per second enabling it to drop out of orbit to begin its high-speed return back to earth the russian search and recovery forces that belong to the russian civilian agency called rosaviatsa are all at the jazz khazgan airport those personnel all aboard the russian mi8 military helicopters with rotors about to spin up the first of those helicopters to depart the airport for the landing site at about the time of the deorbit burn some 12 and a half minutes from now amongst the nasa contingent uh participating in kazakhstan tonight for tonight's landing and recovery operations include trisha mack who's the director of human space flight programs in russia bill spech from the international space station program office uh representing mission integration and operations for tonight's recovery operations dr natasha cho who is a cade rubin's flight surgeon a series of russian nurses attending to the three crew members with their own respective flight surgeons as well nasa public affairs officer courtney beasley will be on one of the first helicopters down to the landing site along with bill ingles nasa's chief photographer astronaut drew morgan is representing the astronaut office for tonight's recovery operations a veteran of a long-duration mission aboard the international space station that launched on the 50th anniversary of america's landing on the moon on apollo 11. coming up on the 10 minute mark before the deorbit burn everything quiet aboard the soyuz vehicle the soyuz commander sergey rizhikov seated in the center seat of the descent module the center-most section of the three-section soyuz spacecraft flanked on his left by sergey kood sverchkoff and kate rubins on his right and there's a cutaway view of the descent module again uh the crew strapped in having checked out their spacesuits so they are clad in their circle launch and entry suits soon to feel the first effects of earth's gravity for the first time in more than six months but the power has been shed off to the sensor is that right one minute has passed but the flag is still there and we have um we did send the command though for the deactivation um so power supply to the e-cave is not being supplied but you still have the you don't have the flag is that right yes and we confirm diplo thrusters are firing and we have like 20 minutes copy and on the in the right info we're sending the command and d9 delta 9 is illuminated if sierra 9 is illuminated copy sierra 9 is illuminated unintelligible 300 countdown clocks uh now hit the seven minute mark prior to the deorbit burn four minutes and 39 second engine firing to slow the soyuz down and enable it to drop out of orbit to begin its trip back to earth coming up on the six-minute mark prior to the deorbit burn just about one hour until touchdown i have the parameters written down we have integrated gesso 155 for the first and 157 for the second one prop is nominal and 18 point and seventy seven seven four seven seven four is the pressure in the descent module and for the we have 18.1 and 18.2 did you say 18.1 and 18.2 yes affirmative four and a half minutes now until the deorbit burn sergey ryzekov just a moment ago reading off propulsion parameters for the russian flight controllers in karl yaff everything in good shape the stage is set for the start of the journey home for rubens rizhikov and kud zverchkoff and everything's fine on board we copy you can depress the transmit button during the portal press the firing copy the flight controllers uh in corey off uh will be expecting uh rizhikov to provide continuous commentary of the progress of the deorbit burn so that his uh his reports uh can match up to uh all of the parameters that the flight controllers are seeing at their consoles in carliaoff you're looking at a live view from a balcony camera overlooking the russian flight control room two and a half minutes away now from the deorbit burn one minute to escade tig on board everything is a-okay 90 seconds now until the deorbit burn we're getting close to one minute before escadatic [Applause] less than a minute uh before the initiation of the deorbit burn the russian mi8 helicopters at the airport in jez kuzgan have their rotors spinning ready to take off in sequential fashion heading for the landing site going to page 51 10 seconds away standing by for the start of the deorbit burn current position zero at zero forty seven zero forty eight seconds five and a half still heavy change in velocity being reported now by sergey ryzikov the soyuz commander this is a four minute 39 second retrograde maneuver 13 decimal 8 over 30 seconds and we're on page 53 working for the table copy o2 supply uh is activated from the gas analyzer decimal two delta v [Music] 15 seconds 33 and 0.8 filter soyuz continues to decelerate as planned now a minute and a half into the burn firing one minute 30 seconds into the thruster operation 41 decimal zero delta v video parameters are nominal copy surrogate the second one minute 47 49 delta v after one minute 47 seconds two minutes we confirm the burn is going nominally 2 minutes 15 seconds 61 decimal 6 delta v 2 and a half minutes into the burn about two minutes to go two minutes 30 seconds 68 decimal niner all parameters and propellant consumption is nominal copy two minutes 45 seconds 74 decimal eight delta v three minutes into the burn everything is going as planned at the specified time at three minutes 83 decimal zero by delta v and all cadup integrated propulsion system system parameters are nominal at 3 minutes 15 seconds a delta v gained 88 decimal niner three and a half minutes 96 decimal nine propellant consumption is nominal coffee approaching the four minute mark into the burn about 39 seconds left four minutes of escada firing uh ltv gained 109 decimal nine all cadil parameters are still nominal we're standing by [Music] main engine cutoff command in about 20 seconds copy and control 10 seconds two main engine cut off command 124 del tv and the deorbit burn is complete and reported to have been perfectly executed kate rubens sergey kud sverchkoff and soyuz commander sergey ryzikov on their way home at zero seven zero six thirteen uh craz is open in a docking compartment uh we a stable pressure at seven 44 and the pressure is dropping in orbital module and as planned the orbital module the top most section of the three section soyuz vehicle being depressurized this uh in advance of the pyrotechnic separation of the three portions of the soyuz spacecraft coming up at 11 29 about 22 minutes or so from now that will leave the descent module and the three crew members on their own with the heat shield in the direction of travel toward the landing site uh southeast of jezkasgaan in southern kazakhstan right now uh we're continuing to draw pressure in the orbital module uh currently the orbital module pressure is 115. and um the docking compartment pressure is stable at 744. copy we can check if you can hear us the pressure in orbital module is less than 100. 97 currently um in the blind um we are aware that we have to seal our pressure helmets at the zero seven twenty four by zero seven twenty three fifty five no later um but we're planning to do so a little bit earlier at zero seven uh 21 ish copy we have you loud and clear we have 20 minutes to module separation and o2 supply is continuing soyuz commander sergey rizhikov on maintaining a running dialogue with flight controllers at the russian mission control center reporting on soyuz systems the crew putting their visors down on their helmets this uh in preparation for the pyrotechnic separation of the three sections of the soyuz the top most section called the orbital module and the lower section the instrumentation and propulsion module they will be uh separating soon the separation pyrotechnics expected at about 11 30 p.m central time that will allow the descent module to fly on its own with its computers honed in on the landing site about 91 miles to the southeast of the town of jessica's gun follow the supermuscular we hear you through the noise how would you read us we have you loud and all clear we can verify vos power and abuse readiness everything is in order on board the pressure is rising a little bit on board in the docking compartment um because of o2 being supplied into the cabin right now at 7 48 otherwise everything is nominal on board and in 10 minutes we're planning to seal the pressure helmet please go through the last minute body checks verify that your straps are strapped in tightly that your knee pads are positioned properly moscow we cannot understand anything you're saying the soyuz is moving further and further away from the international space station to a point to a point where vhf voice communications is expected to become ratty if not unavailable for a period of time until the spacecraft approaches the landing site and begins to provide communications capability with the antonov 26 airborne command center the fixed-wing aircraft that is part of the search and recovery forces that is airborne flying around the landing zone to act as a relay station for data and voice back to the russian mission control center 15 seconds left to module separation a copy please check your knee pads make sure that the odf books are the heart copies are secured well moscow we cannot understand what you're saying please repeat everything quiet uh here in mission control in houston as uh the voice communications begins to diminish between the soyuz spacecraft and the russian flight control team simply because of the distance now that the soyuz has moved away from the international space station and the uh location and positioning of the antennas on the soyuz relative to the relay antennas for vhf communications through the station [Music] before module separation please verify uh the positioning of your kneepad [Music] bungees or straps we cannot hear you moscow we don't understand what you're saying i'm just letting you know that we are aware that we have module separation coming up at 07 29.55 everything's still already on board copy sergey ryzekov reassuring flight controllers in moscow even though they cannot hear uh the flight controllers calling them at this point they understand that we're within 14 minutes of the scheduled separation of the three sections of the soyuz through pyrotechnics this is mission control houston uh based on the last report from sergey rishikov everything going very well on board the soyuz ms-17 the next major event coming up in about 11 minutes the separation of the three sections of the soyuz has the descent module with the three crew members strapped inside that will then fly free with its onboard computers uh targeting the landing site to the south east of the town of jezkasgan this is an animation of the separation of those three sections the orbital module and the instrumentation and propulsion module separate from the descent module that then enters the earth's atmosphere building up heat repelling the heat through its uh heat shield before the deployment of a drogue shoot and then the large main shoot we'll talk more about the physics of the shoot deployment and the behavior of the soyuz spacecraft once we get past module separation landing uh is still scheduled for 11 56 pm central time 10 56 a.m kazakhstan time on saturday morning the weather reports indicate clear skies very light winds temperature around 64 degrees fahrenheit and with the completion of the deorbit burn a short time ago the russian mi8 helicopters are all airborne on route to the landing site this is all very carefully choreographed and timed so that the helicopters arrive in a circular racetrack pattern around the landing zone shortly before the arrival of the soyuz under its shoots the separation of the three sections of the soyuz will occur at an altitude of about 87 miles all done by automatic commanding from the onboard computers firing pyrotechnics to enable the three sections to separate from one another in the center section or descent module soyuz commander sergey rizhikov flying under the call sign of favorite in the center seat flanked on his left by sergey kud zverchkoff and on his right by kid rubens the landing site coordinates uh calculated by the russian flight control team in corey off call for the soyuz to be targeting a landing spot at 47.2 north 69.3 east the pressure are sealed and the automatical the avionics are activated and you have the roof handle in your hands correct so visors are now down for the three crew members in the descent module of the soyuz ms-17 some six minutes away from the expected separation of the modules countdown clocks here in mission control in houston ticking backward toward the expected landing time just over 31 minutes from now [Music] a separation of the modules is in four and a half minutes so a bit of continuing communications confirming uh the expected time for the module separation around 11 29 pm central time our push to talk button is depressed and the transmit button is released how do you read this again these intermittent communications between the soyuz and the russian mission control center expected this is a nominal occurrence because of the distance the soyuz is away from vhf communications capability from the international space station as it prepares for module separation we're about a minute or so away from the anticipated time for module separation russian search and recovery forces airborne on route to the landing site southeast of jessica's gun everything continuing to go smoothly the reports are now in from the russian mission control center that module separation has occurred on time the soyuz descent module with the three crew members strapped in their seats in their circle launch and entry suits are barreling toward the landing site southeast of jezkasgan the next major event some three minutes from now when the vehicle enters the earth's atmosphere at an altitude of 100 kilometers once the soyuz approaches the landing site some 15 minutes before touchdown there is a intricate parachute deployment sequence that is triggered by a barometric pressure sensor when the vehicle is about 41 000 feet above the ground at that point the main parachute covers first jettison by pyrotechnic devices and springs this will pull out a pair of extraction shoots which in turns pull which in turn pulls out the drogue chute which in turn pulls out the main parachute takes about 20 seconds for all of this to happen when the atmospheric pressure that is measured around the soyuz reaches the proper levels a barometric pressure sensor starts a timer that triggers most of the remaining events in the landing sequence at an altitude of about eighteen thousand feet off the ground commands are issued to jettison the heat shield and to open valves to vent hydrogen peroxide uh fuel for the entry control thrusters and oxygen of the life support system tank if we're fortunate enough to get video of the soyuz under the shoots we may be seeing that white smoke that is the venting the normal venting of hydrogen peroxide and oxygen into the air so that the vehicle can be safe for landing without an abundance of hazardous hazardous gases remaining in the tanks when the soft landing thrusters fire just milliseconds before touchdown [Music] anything [Music] the soyuz are now beginning to enter the earth's atmosphere this will mark the first effects of earth's gravity against the bodies of the three crew members for the first time in 185 days we're inside 23 minutes until the anticipated touchdown of the soyuz on the step of kazakhstan to wrap up a 78.4 million mile mission unintelligible [Applause] the three crew members in the descent module of the soyuz ms-17 should be seeing the first effects of plasma fireball building around the spacecraft where temperatures rise to about 2500 degrees ablated by the soyuz heat shield soyuz computers also uh providing entry guidance to fine-tune the path of the spacecraft toward the landing site on the step of kazakhstan the spacecraft and the crew members should be emerging from this plasma regime in about three and a half minutes or so [Music] foreign moscow flight controllers uh the russian mission control center attempting to contact the soyuz but uh as expected communications uh not expected to provide a response as the soyuz descends in the heat peaking regime during its entry back to earth touchdown expected about 18 and a half minutes from now be the soyuz spacecraft should be emerging from this plasma regime about a minute from now and as it approaches the landing site communications should be established through the search and recovery forces in the antonov 26 fixed-wing aircraft around the landing zone serving as a command and control relay station [Music] um [Music] plus [Music] seven seven two there's no pressure what's the max g loan it was 3.8 uh maybe 395 we copy 395. please make sure that the odf procedures are and once the these are primed make sure that you put the translation and the rotational hand controllers in the corresponding positions [Music] this is mission control houston almost like clockwork uh communications re-established between mission control uh in kariov and uh sergey rizhikov the soyuz commander the uh crew now out of the plasma regime atmospheric entry was a nominal occurrence and we're standing by now uh for the opening of the parachutes the command to begin the parachute deployment sequence time to touch down about 14 and a half minutes please tighten your shoulder straps thirteen and a half minutes until touchdown parachutes should have been commanded to deploy by now this is mission control houston 12 minutes until touchdown of the soyuz ms-17 on the step of kazakhstan we uh fully expect that the shoots have been deployed by now although we're still awaiting confirmation of that from the crew or telemetry this is mission control houston and there it is soyuz ms-17 under its main parachute and as we described before the white smoke is the nominal venting of hydrogen peroxide and oxygen into the atmosphere right on time right on schedule with landing planned about 10 minutes and 50 seconds from now foreign reports now uh from the landing site from the antonov 26 command and control flying aircraft indicate that the crew is in great shape they've reported everything is nominal on board the soyuz [Music] don't worry this is not a fire descending through a cloudless sky on a saturday morning in kazakhstan soyuz ms-17 with rubens rizhikov and kudz ferchkoff aboard now nine and a half minutes from touchdown are you ready yes 4.5 is the altitude on the input panel one more time five minutes passed let's do it one more time less than nine minutes until touchdown uh the soyuz altimeter soon to be activated to measure the distance between the soyuz and land and the rate of descent all that information being fed into the soyuz computers that will trigger the soft landing engines firing just milliseconds before [Music] descent touchdowns in progress pressure is 4 11. s 0 4 0 5 altitude three eight nine zero the beeping sound you hear is a radio beacon on the soyuz spacecraft that is relaying uh its position back for telemetry on the ground the soyuz very stable the winds are virtually non-existent on the ground uh at the landing site according to the latest reports put down the kneecaps russian mi-8 helicopters over the search and recovery forces and the embedded nasa personnel are now circling the landing zone preparing to touch down in sequential fashion within minutes after the soyuz lands those search and recovery forces are maintaining good two-way communications with the crew on board [Music] control altitude standing by for landing stopwatches are on just relax bye m [Music] copy [Music] in the descent module the three crew members have cocked their seats in the landing position tighten their uh straps against their sokol launch and entry suits just a bit tighter as they prepare for touchdown 300 difference is 60 meters unintelligible meters thank you up sandwiched between the launch of a soyuz vehicle and next week's launch of a spacex crew dragon vehicle soyuz spacecraft is minutes away from touchdown on the step of kazakhstan [Music] oh past one 1500 meters [Music] hey one of the russian mi8 helicopters are now in view that uh is the foreshadowing of your being able to see the horizon shortly [Music] [Music] some two and a half minutes until touchdown copy 800. copy 700 get ready for landing just over a minute until touchdown everything looking good [Music] touchdown touchdown confirmed at 11 55 p.m central time 12 55 a.m eastern time 10 55 a.m in kazakhstan on a saturday morning after 185 days in space in a mission spanning two thousand nine hundred sixty orbits of the earth and seventy eight point four million miles kate rubens sergey ryzekov and sergey kuzkov are back on terra firma at this point the russian mi8 helicopters with the search and recovery forces in tow will begin to descend one by one first to erect an inflatable medical tent nearby the capsule and then begin the process of extracting the crew a view of the landing site about 91 miles to the southeast of the town of jezkasgan kazakhstan russian mi8 helicopters uh circling of the landing zone where the soyuz ms-17 touched down about three minutes or so ago at 11 55 pm central time 12 55 a.m eastern time on saturday as the soyuz ms-17 is back on earth with kate rubins sergey ryzekov and sergey kud zverchkoff confirmation now being received from the search and recovery forces that the soyuz ms-17 landed upright so the crew will be extracted from the top hatch on the soyuz once a ladder is erected alongside the spacecraft again you can see uh three of the russian mit helicopters on the ground to begin the process of erecting this inflatable medical tent to which the crew members will be brought inside following their extraction from the vehicle and a few minutes to sit in chairs to get their land legs back a bit once they are pulled out of the spacecraft this is mission control houston once again the soyuz ms-17 landed at 11 55 pm central time 12 55 a.m eastern time about 91 miles to the southeast of jessica's gun following a normal uneventful entry all of the entry uh sequence of events went by the book as planned the three crew members uh in the descent module of the soyuz following the undocking earlier this evening from the international space station they are back on earth awaiting their extraction compliments of the search and recovery forces whose russian mi8 helicopters are now landing one by one to move their way toward the spacecraft and begin the process of getting the crew out putting them in chairs near this capsule itself so that they can have an opportunity to uh get their land legs back a bit before they're carried in their chairs inside the inflatable medical tent to get out of their social launch and entry suits and into more comfortable clothing for medical testing the three crew members then will be flown by helicopters some two hours and 15 minutes to the staging city in karaganda kazakhstan where the crew members will split up rubens boarding a nasa plane to fly back to houston with rijakov and kud zverchkov boarding a gagarin cosmonaut training aircraft to fly back to their training base in their homes in star city russia just outside of moscow with us on a satellite phone from the landing site is nasa public affairs officer courtney beasley courtney uh you are down on the ground very quickly as well just within minutes of touchdown we do we are looking at helicopters not yet seeing tv of the spacecraft at the landing site so fill us in on what you're seeing rob it's great to hear from you as you said i'm here at the landing site there are still some helicopters touching down right now it was an upright landing and it looks like the crew has been waving to the personnel outside of the capsule our helicopter the skies are as clear as they can get we actually got a visual of the castle 10 minutes before touchdown and we were able to follow it from that minute mark all the way down to the ground we were one of the first helicopters out and i'm on the ground right now they're putting the stand up getting ready to extract the screw what uh what was the flight like from your staging point and jessica's gone to the landing side to what point did you uh pick up the soyuz and uh how was the touchdown could you see the soft landing engines from your perspective yeah rob the skies are clear the crew could not have asked for a more simple ditch to touch down here and breathe this fresh air here back on earth for the first time in 185 days again about 57 degrees here clear skies we got a visual of the capsule about 10 minutes before it touched down we were able to follow the capsule all the way down to the ground the capsule did have an upright landing they have this stand around the castle right now they've opened it up and they're ready to extract the crew we expect that commander sergeant sergey rizhikov will be first out and uh we should be receiving a video from the landing site from the spacecraft here momentarily and we now have video courtney as we watch the search and recovery forces surrounding the spacecraft give us uh a play-by-play of what you're seeing yeah rob there are two personnel on top of this band right now they are waiting to open the castle up they're actually starting to put up this medical tent where the crew will go for medical evaluation after they are extracted and get an opportunity to sit in those chairs for a few minutes um so right now we're just standing by for them to open it up and start extracting the crew hang in there with us uh courtney uh we uh we lost uh the video fee we only had it for a moment uh so keep uh providing us with what you're seeing uh as recovery developments unfold at the spacecraft no problem rob they're wiping off the top right now again we should just be a couple seconds away from opening up and uh once the three crew members uh are out of the spacecraft uh i assume that they've put chairs up near uh the uh spacecraft itself what will be the scenario uh and the sequence of events after that yeah rob they're actually setting those chairs up as we speak two of them are already on the ground set up um just a couple feet away from the capitol itself these troopers will be carried out by one at that point they'll get to sit down kind of catch their breath from that ride down they'll get to make their first call back to earth whether it's to family or friends get to tell them about their trip home back to earth and they'll sit there for a few minutes get a chance to recuperate and from there they'll head into the medical tents for further medical evaluation industries will get their first medical evaluation as well the choreography of how the search and recovery forces uh deploy the helicopters and arrive at the timing that they do is always very stark to me give us your impressions this is the first time you have been at a landing give us your impressions of uh how this all unfolded from your perspective yeah something to watch it on tv completely another thing to be here in person the second we got the visual of the capsule coming down about 10 minutes to down i just had goosebumps and those goosebumps have not gone away it was so incredibly exciting we were one of the helicopters on the ground and then some helicopters followed us i was actually able to dial in before the last helicopter had touched down and probably have to start extracting our keep keep providing us with your uh with your visuals courtney we do not have tv at the moment uh we're expecting it shortly but uh keep us surprised as to what you're seeing who is getting out first and what they're doing with the crew yeah rob there's about four personnel on top of this stand right now that goes around the castle that stand has a ladder for the personnel to get up on and it also has a slide in which they slide those crew members down one by one at that point of the medical personnel was able to carry them over to those chairs we were just talking about where they'll get their medical evaluation be able to make those first calls from earth and be able to recuperate a little bit before heading over to the medical tent um it looks like some pictures are being taken right now before they extract the crew but otherwise it looks like we're just moments away from commander sergey rishikov coming out what is uh the timeline uh and the sequence of activities after uh the crew makes its way into the medical tent for their initial uh evaluations yeah so after um their children are conceived they will be carried over to the medical tent which is a short distance away from where we are now um those you know will conduct a more in-depth medical evaluation um the crew will also undergo a series of field tests hate rubens in particular will undergo a test conducted by our human research program called standard measures and that's just a set of measures taken after landing to characterize the effects of living and working in the microgravity environment once those tests are complete the crew and personnel will head back to their designated helicopters from there they'll head to the airport in karaganda where rubens will board the nasa plane after houston and the cosmonauts will board their aircraft to return to their training base in star city russia courtney hang in there with us we're going to be coming back to you here momentarily just to recap this is courtney beasley at the landing site nasa public affairs officer she wrote on one of the first helicopters from jez khazgan earlier to the landing site where the soyuz ns17 touched down about 15 minutes ago at 11 55 pm central time 10 55 a.m kazakhstan time at the landing site it was a perfectly normal re-entry for rubens rizhikov and kud zverchkoff all of the entry sequence of events were by the book everything went uh normally the separation of the modules the deployment of the parachutes and a touchdown occurring uh actually about a minute earlier than had been predicted almost a uh bullseye touchdown with the soyuz sticking the landing landing upright which of course helps to facilitate the extraction of the crew courtney what's uh what's going on there right now yeah rob it looks like those initial pictures have been taken and it looks like they are moving down to extract their first crew member there's about four personnel again on top of the stand around the soyuz and here we have it sergey rishikov is now coming out and some shaking hands some high fives and a lot of smiles on the top of that stand right now he's turning around and giving the crowd a wave so excited to be back home and he's going down the slide right now again the medical personnel right on the slide to carry him over to the chairs just a couple feet away and they're starting the extraction for the second crew member as we speak and rob in the medical chairs they'll be seated in the same configuration that they wrote home in their soyuz on courtney we're standing by for uh the resumption of video from the landing site and uh based on your report rigikoff is out and uh we'll be waiting uh for you to report on the next crew member to be extracted yeah rob we're just um standing by waiting it should just be a couple moments from now again the medical personnel on top ready to help extract and welcome these crew members home courtney sometimes uh at these uh landing sites uh the locals who know as much about landing operations as almost the rest of us uh will show up to greet the crew members any sign of any locals no rock um i don't see any sign of any locals that may just be due to the token 19 restrictions um and without video you can't tell but most people here do have on masks to follow those 2019 guidelines and we now have video from the landing site we just uh caught a glimpse of sergey ryzikov and we're looking at the crew members being extracted and other uh technical personnel clamoring at the very top hatch that you described a moment ago rizhikov is smiling being being attended to by the usual compliment of russian search and recovery personnel blood pressure 94 heart rate rishikov having completed his second flight into space 358 days on his two missions one seven six one eleven rizhikov served as the expedition 64 commander before handing off command of the international space station on thursday to shannon walker the nasa astronaut who will herself be handing over command to aki hoshide on april 27th after hoshide arrives on board on the spacex crew dragon vehicle which is scheduled for launch next thursday and if you're looking at sergey rijikov from the front our nasa personnel are to the left of him ready to welcome kate rubens back home give me you're watching uh look at the top ledge live television from the landing site in kazakhstan to the southeast of the town of jazka's gun sergey rizhikov out of the soyuz ms-17 awaiting the extraction of the other two crew members parameters please do not on the right carrying a bouquet of flowers is uh cosmonaut yuri malenchenko from the gagarin cosmonaut training center presumably that bouquet of flowers uh to be handed to kate rubins after she's out of the soyuz 1 35 by 85 and rob it looks like one of the personnel just went into the soyuz to help the extraction process right now and here's our second crew member okay rob kate rubens is outside of the castle right now giving high fives and all smiles and staying at kate here right here welcome home and here she comes and even 300 days in space on her two missions kate rubins is home let's go and she's being brought over to her chair right now okay rob reuben has been seated in her chair again all smiles from both reuben's and our nasa personnel and kate rubin's now receiving flowers a beautiful bouquet thank you thank you yuri malenchenko handing rubens that bouquet of flowers uh on the left of your screen is uh reuben's flight surgeon dr natasha cho on the right is uh a russian nurse roxanna botsmanova who operates every landing operation as one of the compliment of nasa nurses and rob we just asked kate how her write down was and she said quote it was awesome please step back so reuben's and rijakov now out of the soyuz just waiting for his first over there uh uh drew morgan was here so that was also a good reunion on a placid saturday morning on the step of kazakhstan uh sergey kudzverchkoff about to be extracted pressure no oxygen oxygen 95 okay here's me and kiss vertigo is now out yes your the measurements have been taken and i will give it to you right away rob again these chairs are where the crew will sit for a short time for their first set of medical evaluations and they'll also be able to make their first phone call from back here on earth this is also a period of time for their equilibrium to get readjusted to gravity after living and working okay you're ready and good spirit cloth is now being carried over to his chair so all three crew members now extracted and seated so yes flight surgeon is taking measurements man it's fun to be on this side of things television continues to come in from the landing site where just uh 30 minutes ago the soyuz ms-17 crew the expedition 64 trio of cade rubin's sergey ryzekov and sergey kud zverchkov landed upright in their soyuz vehicle to complete their 185-day mission you just caught a glimpse a moment ago of the nearby inflatable medical tent the orange tent that they will be carried into a few moments from now to begin medical tests before boarding individual helicopters for about a two-hour 15-minute flight back to the staging city of karaganda courtney i think we have you uh reestablished now tell us what the scene is that is looking like at the landing site uh as you know all three crew members now in their seats kate ruben's having a conversation with the nasa personnel on the side again she said that her ride home was awesome and she just said that it's really to be on her side of things so i'm excited i know she had a great time living and working aboard the international space station again they'll spam these tears for their first set of medical evaluations before being carried over to the tent and kate rubins is now on the phone making her first call from back here on earth kudzferchkoff having completed the first mission in his career of 185 days that included a spacewalk last november with uh sergey ryzikov outside of the poisk module that served as an airlock for the first time for a russian spacewalk that poisk module was the departure point earlier this evening for the soyuz ms-17 not everybody's here yet and courtney uh even in the remote step of kazakhstan there's always time for a photo opportunity okay one more picture of the club commander we should be seeing the crew hoisted in those chairs to be brought into the medical tent momentarily for those just joining us the soyuz ms-17 landed at 11 55 pm central time 12 55 a.m eastern time about 34 minutes ago russian mi8 helicopters carrying members of the search and recovery forces uh quickly landed in sequential fashion uh one by one on a perfectly clear morning on a saturday morning on the step of kazakhstan to the southeast of the town of jezkasgan to begin the extraction of the crew one by one rizakov was first out followed by kate rubins and then sergey kud zverchkoff and you can see uh the crew members now being raised in the chairs to be brought to the nearby medical tent courtney we see uh ryzekov signing uh his spacecraft give us a quick glimpse as to what's going on yes okay yeah rob the group just took a big group photo with all of the personnel from both cosmos and from nasa again from here the crew will be carried into the medical tent for further medical evaluation after those evaluations are finished the crew and personnel will head back to their designated helicopters and they'll head to the airport in corazonda where rivers will board the nasa plane back to houston and the two cosmonauts will board their aircraft to return to their training base in star city russia so headed into the medical tent for further medical evaluation that will wrap up my report from the field it's been an absolute honor to be here at this landing representing nasa public affairs and we're all looking forward to seeing you back in houston rob back to you thank you very much courtney and have a safe trip back to houston we'll look forward to seeing you and hearing more about your trip as uh we lost our television feed just a moment ago you saw kate rubins being carried toward the inflatable medical tent following uh sergey ryzikov the soyuz commander signing the outside of the descent module with the date of landing that has now become a tradition for returning soyuz crews the three soyuz crew members and now inside the inflatable medical tent at the landing site just a few feet away from the descent module that touched down in perfect fashion at 11 55 pm central time 12 55 a.m eastern time to wrap up the 185 day mission of kate rubins sergey rizhikov and sergey kud zvertkoff there will be a period as you heard from public affairs officer courtney beasley a period of medical testing inside the medical tent after which the crew members will board individual helicopters for a flight back to the staging city of karaganda where they will split up rubens boarding a nasa plane for a flight back to houston and uh rigikoff and kudz sverchkoff boarding a gagarin cosmonaut training center aircraft for a flight back to star city russia and their training base just outside of moscow this is mission control houston the successful landing uh the very smooth and uneventful landing of the soyuz ms-17 has brought kate rubin's sergey ryzekov and sergey kud sverchkoff back to earth after 185 days in space a 78.4 million mile mission everything went perfectly throughout the course of the night from hatch closure through undocking through the deorbit burn and all of the entry sequence of events that resulted in an upright landing for their descent module a bullseye landing about 91 miles to the southeast of the town of jezkasgan the crew is out of the soyuz they're in the nearby medical tent getting out of their circle launch and entry suits having an opportunity to receive initial medical testing before they board respective helicopters to fly back to the staging city of karaganda kazakhstan where they will split up with rubens returning to houston on a nasa plane and rizokoff and kudz-verchoff returning to their training base in star city russia outside of moscow this is one of a continuing series of events in one of the busiest periods in international space station if not human space flight history where 14 astronauts and cosmonauts are coming and going from the station on four different spacecraft over a three-week period next up is next thursday's launch of the crew 2 astronauts on board a spacex crew dragon spacecraft led by spacecraft commander shane kimbrough on the right of your screen megan mcarthur the dragon pilot on the left and the multinational crew rounding out tomah pesquet of the european space agency and aki hoshide of the japan aerospace exploration agency they are scheduled to launch from launch pad 39a at the kennedy space center next thursday april 22nd at 6 11 a.m eastern time with nasa tv coverage beginning at 2 a.m eastern time docking scheduled one week from today actually from friday in the early morning hours to bring the station crew temporarily to an 11-person crew so we'll be following all of the countdown activities throughout the week with a series of briefings throughout the week from the kennedy space center leading up to their launch next thursday morning in the meantime you can follow and recap all of the events from this evening on the nasa television video file that's coming up saturday morning at 4 30 a.m central time 5 30 a.m eastern time that will recap all of the activities associated with the return to crew the return to earth of the expedition 64 crew of uh kate rubins sergey ryzikov and sergey kud zverchkov the crew safely back on earth soon to be back home in houston and in star city russia so we'd like to thank you for uh joining us throughout the course of the night tonight and to follow all of the exploits of the expedition crews on board the international space station on www.nasa.gov for now have a great weekend this is mission control houston [Music] uh it's one of the best kept secrets of space science [Music] for transporting ambitious and hefty scientific experiments to near space [Music] [Applause] though they're not as flashy for headline grabbing is rockets

Channel: NASA

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Id: QXMyPe0hm60

Length: 129min 45sec (7785 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 16 2021