October 11, 2009. S.P.Korolev RSC Energia, -
Mission Control Center, Korolev, Moscow region
At 08:32, Moscow Time, Soyuz TMA-14 descent vehicle returned to Earth. All the operations associated with the descent, landing, search and rescue of the descent vehicle and the crew went normally.
Russian cosmonaut G. Padalka
(commander of ISS-19/20, commander of Soyuz TMA-14) and
NASA astronaut M.Barratt
(flight engineer of ISS-19/20 and of Soyuz TMA-14) completed
their mission to the International Space Station (ISS) under
the program of Expedition ISS-19/20, and a spaceflight participant,
Canadian citizen G.
Laliberte has completed his mission under the program
of the 17th visiting mission. An ESA astronaut, citizen
of Belgium F. De Winne
(crew commander), Russian cosmonauts R. Romanenko
and M. Suraev,
NASA astronauts N. Stott
and J. Williams,
an astronaut of Canadian Space Agency R. Thirsk
continue their work onboard the Space Station under the
program of Expedition ISS-21.
At the Mission Control Center near Moscow (MCC-M), the work in support of the Soyuz TMA-14 de-orbiting maneuvers and re-entry, the search for the landed descent vehicle and evacuation of the crew from it was performed under the supervision of the State Commission (The Chairman of the Commission is Head of the Federal Space Agency A.N. Perminov) and the Technical Management for flight tests of manned space systems (headed by President and General Designer of the S.P.Korolev RSC Energia V.A. Lopota).
During re-entry the Soyuz TMA-14 flight was controlled by the Lead Operations Control Team working at MCC-M in cooperation with the specialists of the Air and Space Search and Rescue (Rosaeronavigatsia), other Russian organizations and services, as well as the US Mission Control Center in Houston.
The final descent and landing operations were witnessed by the representatives of FSA, NASA, Russian companies and organizations involved in the ISS program, who were present at MCC-M.
After crew evacuation from the descent vehicle, a press conference was held at MCC-M for Russian and foreign journalists. Its participants included managers and representatives of Roscosmos, RSC Energia, NASA, prime companies in the Russian space industry.
For information:
- RSC Energia is the prime organization for developing and operating the ISS Russian segment, its modules (Zvezda, Pirs, etc.), as well as Soyuz TMA and Progress spacecraft. Mission control for the ISS Russian Segment and the spacecraft is provided by the Lead Operations Control Team of MCC-M. The Flight Director is the RSC Energia first deputy general designer, pilot-cosmonaut V.A. Soloviev.
- The descent vehicle of the spacecraft made a soft landing on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan at its target landing area to the north of the town of Arkalyk. The search and rescue facilities and specialists accomplished a prompt and immediate retrieval of the crew and the descent vehicle from the landing site.
- The duration of the mission of G. Padalka and M. Barratt was about 198 days and 17 hours, the duration of the G. Laliberte's mission was about 10 days and 21 hours.
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