Friday, March 19, 2010

Cold Homecoming

Americans are used to seeing astronauts come back to Earth in warm weather. Shuttles have always landed in Florida or southern California-- or occasionally in New Mexico. Before the shuttle, splashdowns generally occurred in tropical seas.

Russia has a different tradition. Cosmonauts have always literally landed-- in the vast steppes of Central Asia. That often means coming home to cold weather. So it was for the latest ISS crew to come home. Their Soyuz landed in four feet of snow and 20 degree F temperatures. A strong wind caught the big parachutes and rolled the capsule onto its side. Recovery teams reached the craft quickly, however, and the crew was fine.

As we move into the post-shuttle era, when, at least for a while, Russia's Soyuz will provide the only access to ISS, Americans will see more cold weather landings.

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