NASA Photographer Catches Dramatic Image Of Landing

Easing back toward Earth beneath a billowing parachute, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft can be seen in this NASA image igniting its soft-landing rockets just before touchdown today on the snow-covered steppes of north-central Kazakhstan.

The capsule was piloted by Russian cosmonaut Max Suraev, who returned from the International Space Station along with U.S. astronaut Jeffrey Williams. The two Expedition 22 crewmates launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome to the south in Kazakhstan on Sept. 30 and spent 169 days in space -- 167 of which were aboard the outpost.

The spacecraft landed in about three to four feet of snow, and with winds gusting around 17 mph, the parachute dragged the capsule about 20 to 30 feet from its initial touchdown point. Landing came at 7:24 a.m. EDT, or 5:24 p.m. local time.

Recovery crews quickly removed Suraev and Williams from the capsule, and after initial post-flight medical checks, both were carried aboard helicopters for the first leg of a journey back to Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City outside Moscow.

Photo Credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA.

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