Bad weather postpones return of three astronauts

(L-R) US astronaut Kevin Ford and  Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin, pose October 22, 2012
Crew of the International Space Station (ISS), (L-R) US astronaut Kevin Ford and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin, pose for a photo at the Baikonur cosmodrome, on October 22, 2012 prior to their launch. The return to earth of the three crew was delayed Friday due to harsh conditions at the Kazakhstan landing site, the Russian space agency said

Bad weather is delaying the return of three astronauts from the International Space Station.

The astronauts were scheduled to land in a in central Kazakhstan early Friday morning. But fog and freezing rain prevented Russian rescue helicopters from flying to the touchdown site.

NASA's Kevin Ford and Russians Oleg Novitsky and Yevgeny Tarelkin will stay at the space station for at least another day. They've been in space for nearly five months.

The astronauts had already climbed into their capsule and where waiting to close the hatch when Russian officials called off their departure at the last minute. Their return trip is now set for Saturday, when the weather is expected to be better.

Three other astronauts will remain at the space station.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Citation: Bad weather postpones return of three astronauts (2013, March 14) retrieved 19 April 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2013-03-bad-weather-postpones-astronauts.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

Explore further

Soyuz crew ready for heavy space station workload

0 shares

Feedback to editors