ESA astronaut André Kuipers, together with his Russian Commander Oleg Kononenko and NASA astronaut Donald Pettit, landed safely on the steppes of Kazakhstan on 1 July 2012, at 10:14 CEST (08:14 UT), in their Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft.
During his six-month PromISSe mission on the International Space Station, André conducted over 50 scientific experiments in the world’s only permanent microgravity laboratory.
Credits: ESA–S. Corvaja, 2012
Expedition 31 Commander Oleg Kononenko, NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit and European Space Agency Flight Engineer Andre Kuipers were greeted in a traditional ceremony at the airport in Karaganda, Kazakhstan on 1 July 2012, hours after landing in their Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft on the steppe of Kazakhstan southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan.
After the ceremony, the crew split up, with Kononenko returning to his training base in Star City, Russia, while Pettit and Kuipers boarded a NASA plane in Karaganda to return to the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The trio completed 193 days in space and 191 days aboard the International Space Station following a launch in late December. The footage includes a short interview conducted André in Karaganda before beginning the trip back to Houston (starts at 7'51").
Replay of today's landing of the Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft in Kazakhstan at 10:14 CEST (08:14 UT) returning Expedition 30/31 crewmembers Oleg Kononenko, André Kuipers and Don Pettit to Earth after 193 days in space.
Expedition 31 crewmembers André Kuipers, Don Pettit and Oleg Kononenko have said their farewells to the rest of the International Space Station crew and entered their Soyuz spacecraft ahead of their return to Earth. The hatches between the ISS and the Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft were closed at 03:32 CEST (01:32 UT). They will now perform leak checks of their spacecraft and are scheduled to undock from the ISS at around 06:48 CEST (04:48 UT).
Shortly before hatch closure between the ISS and the Soyuz TMA-03M (Credit NASA TV)
Watch the replay from NASA TV:
The Soyuz TMA-03M landing site is located 217 km to the southeast of the Kazakh city of Dzhezkazgan.
Watch the hatch closure, departure and landing of the Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft live via NASA TV.
Schedule:
03:15 CEST / 01:15 UT -- Expedition 31 farewells and hatch closure coverage (hatch closure at 03:40/01:40 UT)
06:30 CEST / 04:30 UT -- Expedition 31/Soyuz TMA-03M undocking coverage (undocking at 06:47 CEST / 04:47 UT)
09:00 CEST / 07:00 UT -- Expedition 31/Soyuz TMA-03M deorbit burn and landing coverage (deorbit burn at 09:19 CEST / 07:19 UT, landing at 10:15 CEST / 08:15 UT)
The sequence of events below are as expected on 1 July for the return of the Soyuz TMA-03M with ESA astronaut André Kuipers, NASA's Don Pettit and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko. Departure starts with the undocking command at 06:50 CEST (04:50 UT) and ends with landing in Kazakhstan at 10:15 CEST (08:15 UT).
03:32 CEST (01:32 UT) - Hatch closure
06:44 CEST (04:44 UT) - Undocking command to open hooks and latches
06:47 CEST (04:47 UT) - Hooks opened / physical Separation of Soyuz TMA-03M from the Rassvet/MRM1 module at 0.12 m/s
Physical separation from Rassvet on this occasion (not Pirs) (Credit: NASA)
06:56 CEST (04:56 UT) - Separation burn from ISS (15 second burn of the Soyuz engines, 0.55 m/s; Soyuz distance from the ISS is ~15-20 metres)
09:19 CEST (07:19 UT) - Deorbit Burn (4 min 15 sec in duration, 115.2 m/sec; Soyuz distance from the ISS is ~12 km)
Deorbit burn (Credit: NASA)
09:48 CEST (07:48 UT) - Separation of modules (~23 mins after deorbit Burn; 140 km altitude; undocking command + ~2 hours, 57 mins.)
Separation of modules (Credit: NASA)
09:51 CEST (07:51 UT) - Entry interface (101.8 km altitude)
Reentry in Earth's atmosphere (Credit: NASA)
10:00 CEST (08:00 UT) - Command to open chutes (10.7 km altitude)
Two Pilot Parachutes are first deployed, the second of which extracts the Drogue
Chute. The Drogue Chute is then released, measuring 24 square meters, slowing the Soyuz down from a descent rate of 230 m/s to 80 m/s.
The main parachute is then released, covering an area of 1000 square metres; it slows the Soyuz to a descent rate of 7.2 m/s; its harnesses first allows the Soyuz to descend at an angle of 30 degrees to expel heat, then shifts the Soyuz to a straight vertical descent.
Main parachute deployed (Credit: NASA)
Appx. 2 seconds before landing - Soft Landing Engine Firing (6 engines fire to slow the Soyuz descent rate to 1.5 m/s just 0.8 meter above the ground)
Soft Landing Engine Firing (Credit: ESA)
10:15:02 CEST (08:15:02 UT/14:15:02 Kazakhstan time) - Landing (Descent take about 3 hours 24 mins) 217 km SE of Dzhezkazgan; 7 hours 1 minute before sunset at the landing site in Kazakhstan.
Landing, deploy antenna (Credit: NASA)
Crew departure to Houston. Landing +5.5 hours; duration of flight: 16.5 hours
André in Sokol suit (credit: ESA/NASA)
After entering the Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft and closing the hatches at 03:40 CEST, the Soyuz is set to undock from the Station at 06:53 CEST on Sunday morning. A couple of hours later at 09:19 CEST, a 4 minute 25 second deorbit burn will start the Soyuz on it's journey towards Earth's atmosphere.
Soyuz TMA-03M (Credit: ESA/NASA)
The descent module rotates, placing the strongest parts of the heatshield towards the reentry direction, so that it can absorb most of the heat caused by friction. Reentry occurs at an altitude of 101.8 kilometres. The speed is reduced dramatically and the crew is pushed back into their seats by a force of 4–5 g. This is equivalent to four to five times their own body weight.
Oleg, Don and André in their Russian Sokol suits (Credit: NASA)
After landing, the crew will deploy a communication antenna, so that the rescue teams can pinpoint their precise location. The landing site is located 217 km SE of the Kazakh city of Dzhezkazgan. Once rescued André and Don will be taken directly back to Houston from Baikonur, for rehabilitation and post-flight body data collection. Oleg will return to Star City in Moscow.
Unlike the 2 days between launch and docking with the ISS, reentry and landing on the Steppes of Kazakhstan is a relatively quick procedure, taking no longer than three and a half hours from undocking to touchdown.
In this video Space Station astronauts André Kuipers, Don Pettit and Joe Acaba talk to US media in a final media interview before the end of the PromISSe mission to the ISS. André and Don are scheduled to land in their Soyuz spacecraft together with Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko on 1 July after 6 1/2 months in orbit. Acaba remains on board the ISS until mid-September.
Expedition 31 Flight Engineers Don Pettit and Joe Acaba of NASA and André Kuipers of the European Space Agency discussed life and research on board the International Space Station during an educational in-flight event with US students attending an education event in Philadelphia on 26 June.
The session included some great questions such as 'How do you do your laundry?', 'Can you have pets on the space station?', 'Can you take a shower in space?', leading to some interesting and often entertaining answers from the ISS residents.
