Latest Soyuz TMA-7 Stories

As NASA looks toward the retirement of its Shuttle program later this year, Russia announced Wednesday it will halt its space tourism program and concentrate on getting professional crews to the International Space Station once the U.S. space program folds, according to a recent Reuters report. Russia, which already sends crews to the ISS aboard its single-use three-man ships, will double the number of its manned missions to four this year to gear up for the extra crews it will be...

A top Russian space official said Thursday that there is no more room for space tourists hoping to fly to the International Space Station, The Associated Press reported.Sergei Krikalyov, the chief of the Cosmonaut Training Center, said since the space station's crew doubled to six people earlier this year, there is no longer room for tourists who pay tens of millions of dollars for a trip on a Russian spacecraft from Earth.After next year's planned retirement of the U.S. shuttle fleet,...

ARKALYK, Kazakhstan -- American, Russian and Brazilian astronauts endured a bone-jarring, 3 1/2-hour ride from the international space station back to Earth on Sunday, landing on target in the freezing Kazakh steppe.The Russian TMA-7 capsule carried American commander Bill McArthur and Russian flight engineer Valery Tokarev, who each spent six months on the space station, as well as Brazilian astronaut Marcos Pontes. It touched down about 30 miles northeast of Arkalyk at 3:47 a.m. Moscow time...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Brazil's first astronaut landed safely in the Kazakh steppe on Sunday, returning from a 10-day trip in space with a Russian-U.S. crew that had spent six months on board the International Space Station, mission control said. "Soyuz has made a soft landing," a mission control official in Moscow said after the small Soyuz capsule, charred black from re-entry into the atmosphere, bumped down in northern Kazakhstan's steppe. Marcos Pontes, a 43-year-old Brazilian Air...

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - After turning over control of the International Space Station to a new crew, a U.S. astronaut, a Russian cosmonaut and a visiting guest astronaut from Brazil climbed into a Soyuz capsule on Saturday and fired its jets to return to Earth. Commander Bill McArthur, flight engineer Valery Tokarev and Brazil's first astronaut, Marcos Pontes, departed the orbital outpost shortly before 4:30 p.m. EDT and were expected to touch down in a...

KOROLYOV, Russia -- A capsule carrying Brazil's first astronaut, along with a Russian and an American, separated early Sunday from the international space station and began hurtling toward Earth. American astronaut Bill McArthur, Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev and Brazilian Marcos Pontes were strapped tightly into a Soyuz TMA-7 capsule for the bone-jarring journey home. They were set to touch down in the steppes of Kazakhstan early Sunday. Space officials at Russia's Mission Control at...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Soyuz spacecraft delivered Brazil's first astronaut and a Russian-U.S. crew to the orbiting International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday, two days after blasting off from earth. "The docking was smooth and the crew are now preparing to open the hatches to enter the ISS," a spokesman for mission control, situated outside Moscow, said. Marcos Pontes, a 43-year-old Brazilian Air Force pilot, had spent the journey hunched inside the capsule with Russian cosmonaut...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Soyuz spacecraft carrying Brazil's first astronaut and a Russian-U.S. crew docked at the orbiting International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday, two days after blasting off from earth."The docking was smooth and the crew are now preparing to open the hatches to enter the ISS," a spokesman for mission control, situated outside Moscow, said.Marcos Pontes, a 43-year-old Brazilian Air Force pilot, had spent the journey hunched inside the capsule with Russian...

MOSCOW -- Crew on board the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday took a short flight in their Soyuz craft to free up a docking bay for their replacements arriving later this month, Russian mission control said.Cosmonaut Valery Tokarev undocked the Soyuz from the Zarya module docking port, backed off from the station about 50 metres, and then docked at the Zvezda living quarters module, a mission control spokeswoman said.Tokarev was assisted by Bill McArthur, the U.S. astronaut and ISS...

By Irene KlotzCAPE CANAVERAL, Florida -- NASA's first paid ride to the International Space Station will be delayed eight days due to problems preparing the Russian Soyuz spacecraft for launch, Russian and U.S. officials said on Monday.Launch of the 13th live-aboard space station crew was rescheduled from March 22 to March 30, said NASA spokesman James Hartsfield with the Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA is paying Russia to transport astronauts to the space station after the grounding of...