The 16th crew and the Korean astronaut returned to Earth

Although they landed about 420 km from their destination in Kazakhstan

The Russian Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft landed 420 kilometers from its intended landing location in Kazakhstan. None of its passengers were injured. This was reported by the Russian control center. The 16th crew commander of the International Space Station, Peggy Whitson from the USA and her Russian colleague Yuri Melanchenko, as well as the first South Korean astronaut Yi Sun-yeon, were in the spacecraft.

Update from last night

Peggy Whitson, Yuri Melanchenko and Wei Su-Yeon are returning home * They are expected to land on Saturday at 11:30 Israel time and will land in the steppes of Kazakhstan a few hours later * The Korean astronaut performed 18 experiments at the station

The members of the 16th crew of the space station are returning home after six months on the station, and the Korean astronaut Yi Soo-yeon will return to Earth today (Saturday) in a Soyuz spacecraft TMA-11. The three Peggy Whitson, Yuri Melanchenko and Su-Yeon are scheduled to land on Shabbat at 11:30 am Israel time in the steppes of Kazakhstan. According to Whitson, who on Wednesday broke the cumulative delay record for an American astronaut in space, said she is mentally prepared to return to Earth's gravity.

Whitson and Malenchenko are returning after six busy months in orbit, during which they performed five spacewalks and hosted three shuttle crews, during which a new European-made module, a Japanese laboratory and a Canadian-made robotic arm were added to the station. "I think we will take a big step to make the station more international." Whitson said.

Whitson and Melanchenko handed the station over to the new crew under the command of Sergei Volkov. Volkov is the son of cosmonaut Alexander Volkov, and this will be both his and flight engineer Oleg Kononenko's first flight into space. They will join the American astronaut Garrett Raisman, who has already served on the 16th team, and will continue with the new team until he returns to Israel on a shuttle flight in June.

The Korean astronaut will leave souvenirs at the space station

Meanwhile, Yi completed ten days of experiments in space as part of a commercial agreement between the South Korean government and the Russian Federal Space Agency. "Time flies fast," Yi told reporters this week. "I don't want to go back, I want to stay for a long time."

Along with the 18 scientific experiments she conducted during her ten days in space, the first Korean astronaut Yi Soo-yeon will raise Korea's space profile through ethnic objects that she will leave as a gift to the space station crews.

Among other things, the gifts include banknotes, scarves, Hanji - Korean paper clips, as well as stuffed dolls. Among the items, a 10,000 won bill (worth about 10 dollars) on which, among other things, appears a drawing of a 600-year-old astronomical map known as the "Astronomical Map of Stars, Time and Space". The map was drawn during the reign of the Joseon Dynasty in 1395 and depicts the positions of over 1,400 stars. Yee explained to the astronauts about the map and the history of astronomy in Korea.

Yee also took 5,000 won bills with her as part of the tradition of visiting astronauts bringing banknotes of their countries to the station.

Yee also read a poem in Korean "Starry Night" written by Yoon Tong-ju and told about the wonders of the hanji papers that absorb moisture and then release it. You will conduct an experiment aimed at testing whether Hanji can be used in space. She also signed 20 postcards issued by the Korean Space Research Institute and will return them to Earth.