American astronaut Edward Lew, Melanchenko's partner calms concerns about air and water quality on the space station
Avi Blizovsky
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A hot shower and a new wife awaited cosmonaut Yuri Melanchenko upon his return to Earth on Thursday after six months in space.
Russian cosmonaut Yuri Melanchenko and American astronaut Edward Lu landed in Kazakhstan on Thursday after a trouble-free flight from the International Space Station. According to Lu, the only problem on the International Space Station is the lack of comfort. "It's a small price to pay - not eating your favorite food or showering in exchange for the ability to live and work in space," he told him at a press conference upon his landing. "However, as already said, the first hot shower after landing was very good."
As mentioned, Melenchenko landed directly in the married life of Yekaterina Dmitriev after the two were married in August via satellite video transmission from space. However, he refused to elaborate beyond that. "Life on Earth continues, I think we have some plans, but we'll live and see." said.
The astronauts said they were able to keep in touch with their families from the station through e-mail and video conference calls.
"I miss my family and my fiancee, but we had good communication on board the space station and we could talk," he told him. "I don't feel that I have said goodbye to my loved ones on earth."
The two said that concerns about the air quality on the space station were overblown and that NASA personnel should deal with more pressing issues. Last week, as you recall, NASA officials said that the devices that monitor the air and water quality on board the space station show neglect and thereby endanger the astronauts.
"This is a long-term matter and does not constitute a big problem," he told him. "You can manage for quite a long time without fixing. We brought air and water samples with us, and the experts have to analyze them on the ground."
"The situation up there is somewhat bloated and there was a diversion from the real issues such as launch and landing." said.
Indeed there was concern about the safety issues in the landing after the previous crew had landed hundreds of kilometers off target. However, the team, accompanied by the Spaniard Pedro Duaqua who stayed only one week at the station, landed as planned on Thursday.
The Soyuz TMA-2 spacecraft on which he took off and landed was the first Russian spacecraft in history on which an American astronaut both took off and landed (if you don't count the American space tourist Dennis Tito).
Yadan International Space Station
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