American-Russia Space Crew to Return Home

KOSTANAI, Kazakhstan (AP) – An American-Russian crew prepared Thursday to return to Earth in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft as they end their six-month mission on the International Space Station.

The snug Soyuz TMA-3 capsule is scheduled to carry American astronaut Michael Foale and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri, home Friday. European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers of the Netherlands will also be returning after a nine-day mission on the station.

This will be the third time an American astronaut comes back to Earth aboard a Russian craft since the U.S. manned space program grounded its shuttle fleet following the February 2003 Columbia disaster.

The landing of the space station’s previous American-Russian crew in October was smooth and on target – unlike the dramatic landing of the first American astronaut in a Russian Soyuz capsule in May 2003, when a computer error sent the crew on a wild descent 250 miles off-course.

Col. Mikhail Polukhin, coordinator of the Russian space agency’s search and rescue operations, said Thursday his men were prepared for any situation but added there was no cause for worry so far.

“Our main fear is about weather, but the forecast has been good,” he said.

The Soyuz spacecraft’s bell-shaped descent module, which is designed for controlled landing and recovery, is expected to touch ground in the uninhabited steppe in north-central Kazakhstan at 4:12 a.m. Moscow time Friday.

The Russian space agency is prepared for three landing possibilities: the most likely landing spot is 29 miles northeast of the town of Arkalyk – a base for five main search and rescue helicopters.

The total operation will involve 160 people, eight helicopters, two aircraft and two off-terrain vehicles.

Russian space officials said Wednesday that the Soyuz spacecraft, that has been in space for six months, was leaking helium. But both Russian and American space officials said the leak was very minor and would not affect the landing.

“There is no risk,” NASA spokesman Robert Navias said in Kostanai.

Helium is used to pressurize the Soyuz craft’s fuel tanks for its de-orbit descent. Navias said the leak was discovered after the craft’s October launch but said there was “plenty of helium” onboard to allow normal landing.