Space Tourist, Station Cosmonauts Land Safely

From SPACE.com:

A Soyuz spacecraft has returned safely from the International Space Station, touching down with an American space tourist and two Russian cosmonauts in a picture perfect landing that followed two flawed descents on similar vehicles. The Russian-built Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft set down on the frigid Central Asian steppes of Kazakhstan at 11:37 p.m. EDT (0336 Oct. 24 GMT) Thursday, though it was mid-morning Friday at the remote landing site. Freezing temperatures greeted the spacecraft's crew - space tourist Richard Garriott, Expedition 17 commander Sergei Volkov and flight engineer Oleg Kononenko - in what was the first on-target Soyuz landing in just over a year. "Good luck guys, we'll see you on the ground," Volkov told the station's new Expedition 18 crew before undocking hours before landing. "Happy flight." Volkov and Kononenko turned the station over to its new tenants - Expedition 18 commander Michael Fincke of NASA and Russian flight engineer Yury Lonchakov - as they wrapped up their 199-day spaceflight. Their third crewmate, NASA astronaut Gregory Chamitoff, stayed behind to join the Expedition 18 crew. Garriott, creator of the Ultima online computer game series and son of NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, paid $30 million for his 10-day stay aboard the station under a deal between Russia's Federal Space Agency and the Vienna, Va.-based firm Space Adventures. In all, he spent 12 days in space to become the station's sixth paying visitor and the first American second-generation astronaut. The three returning spaceflyers were hoping for a smooth landing, but had steeled themselves for a rough ride.

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