The pinpoint touchdown of the Soyuz capsule carrying Expedition 27 crew members Dimitry Kondratyev, Paolo Nespoli and Cady Coleman as it set down on a sunny, warm morning on the steppe of Kazakhstan.
ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli landed back on Earth this morning to conclude his 159-day mission to the International Space Station. Paolo had been serving as the flight engineer for Expeditions 26 and 27 since December. Paolos MagISStra mission, the third long mission by a European astronaut on the Station, came to end at 04:27 CEST (02:27 GMT) on the steppes of Kazakhstan as the Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft fired its retrorockets for a soft landing. Paolo and crewmates Soyuz Commander Dmitri Kondratyev and NASA's Cady Coleman boarded the Soyuz on Monday night and undocked from the Stations nadir Rassvet port at 23:35 CEST (21:35 GMT). See more