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A Russian, an American and an Italian climbed out of a Russian spacecapsuleearly Monday after hurtling home to Earth from the international space station, where a new crew is preparing to welcome the first space shuttle flight after a two-yearhiatus.
The TMA-5 capsule made a soft upright landing on the steppes of northern Kazakhstan in the early-morning darkness less than 3 1/2 hours after it hadundockedfrom the orbiting outpost. Search-and-rescue helicopters spotted the capsule floating under a parachute toward its designated arrival site about 50 miles north of the Kazakh town of Arkalyk.
Russia's space program has been the only way of getting astronauts to the station since the Columbia disintegrated as it returned to Earth on Feb. 1, 2003, sparking a suspension of shuttle flights. NASA is hoping to renew shuttle flights sometime next month.
Russian helicopters and planes had beenon callMonday, along with a U.S. medical team, near Arkalyk, but many of the helicopters had to turn back to Arkalyk without landing at the site because the ground was swampy with melted snow. Engineers followed the capsule's journey through space on a map projected on a large screen at Russian Mission Control in Korolyov, outside Moscow, and communicated with the crew as it sped toward the Earth.
"Again our Russian colleagues have shown how flexible they can be in the face of such daunting weather conditions in the landing zone to safely recover the crew," William Readdy, the U.S. space agency NASA's associate administrator for space operations, told reporters at Mission Control.
After landing, Italian Roberto Vittori, Russian Salizhan Sharipov and American Leroy Chiao were whisked to a mobile hospital for a quick checkup; more thorough examinations were to be conducted after the crew members arrived later Monday at Star City, the cosmonaut training center outside Moscow.
Vittori, a European Space Agency astronaut, had spent eight days on the international space station, while Sharipov and Chiao had been on the orbiting lab since October. Mission Control said Sharipov had reported that the crew were feeling fine.
Remaining behind on the station were Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and American astronaut John Phillips, whose six-month mission is slated to include welcoming the first U.S. space shuttle flight since the Columbia disaster two years ago.
Russian space officials were relieved to have avoided a repeat of the May 2003 return to Earth by the space station crew, when the Soyuz capsule went 250 miles off course due to a computer error, prompting a frantic search over the steppes.
The TMA-5 undocked at 10:44 p.m. Moscow time on Sunday, after a four-minute delay caused by problems with thehermeticseals on Vittori's spacesuit, Mission Control officials said. The capsule entered the atmosphere about three hours later, and its parachute opened 15 minutes before the scheduled landing time of 2:07 a.m. Monday.
(Agencies)
周一早晨，三名分別來自俄羅斯、美國和義大利的太空人從一艘俄羅斯宇宙飛船中陸續走出，他們剛剛從國際空間站風馳電掣地飛回地球母親的懷抱。此時在國際空間站，一批新的太空工作人員正在準備迎接沉寂兩年以來的首次太空穿梭機飛行。
在黎明前的黑暗中，「TMA-5」號宇宙飛船直立著成功軟著陸哈薩克北部的大草原，此時距它脫離軌道站還不到三個半小時。負責搜索和營救工作的直升機發現這艘宇宙飛船正掛在一個降落傘下，朝著距哈薩克北部小鎮阿爾卡累克約50英裡處的預定著陸點飄去。
自從2003年2月1日「哥倫比亞」號太空梭在返回地球途中解體爆炸以來，宇宙飛行的進程出現了延緩，而俄羅斯的太空計劃成為將太空人送入空間站的唯一方式。美國國家宇航局正打算在下個月的某一天讓宇宙飛船重新飛入太空。
本周一，俄羅斯的直升機和其他一些飛機早早地就在阿爾卡累克附近整裝待命，同樣待命的還有一個美國醫療小組，但是由於雪水融化，草地變得又溼又軟，很多直升機還沒著陸就被迫返回了。在位於莫斯科郊外的科羅廖夫市的俄羅斯宇航控制中心，技術專家們從投影到大屏幕上的地圖上追蹤著宇宙飛船的太空之旅，並在飛船急速駛向地球的過程中和太空人交流。
「面對著陸區如此糟糕的天氣條件，我們的俄羅斯同事們再次顯示出高超的應變能力，成功地實現了全體人員平安降落。」美國國家宇航局太空行動部門的首席助理官威廉·雷迪在控制中心對記者說。
飛船著陸後，義大利太空人羅伯特·維託裡、俄羅斯太空人沙裡波夫和美國華裔太空人焦立中立即被送往臨時醫院接受快速體檢，並將在周一晚些時候抵達「星城」（位於莫斯科郊外的俄羅斯太空人訓練基地）後接受更全面的體檢。
來自歐洲航天局的太空人維託裡在國際空間站呆了八天，沙裡波夫和焦立中則從去年10月起就呆在軌道實驗室裡了。據控制中心消息，沙裡波夫報告說全體飛行人員目前狀況良好。
俄羅斯太空人克裡卡廖夫和美國太空人菲利普斯將留在空間站繼續工作六個月，他們的任務包括迎接自兩年前「哥倫比亞」號太空梭遇難後美國首次太空飛行任務。
俄羅斯宇航局官員們懸著的心終於落了地，他們終於避免了重複2003年5月「聯盟」號飛船從空間站返回地球的那一幕。當時由於計算機出現錯誤，載著太空人返回地球的「聯盟」號飛船在著陸時偏離預定軌道達250英裡，營救隊不得不在大草原上展開了瘋狂的大搜索。
控制中心的官員說，莫斯科時間周日晚上10點44分，「TMA-5」號宇宙飛船飛離空間站，之前由於維託裡的太空服的真空密封層出現了問題，起航行動延遲了4分鐘。大約三個多小時後，宇宙飛船進入了大氣層，預定著陸時間是周一凌晨兩點零七分，飛船在此前15分鐘張開了攜帶的降落傘。
（中國日報網站譯）