Space station trio brings Olympic torch back down to Earth

18 hours ago

Shamil Zhumatov / EPA

Soyuz commander Fyodor Yurchikhin grins as he holds an Olympic torch after landing with two other spacefliers from the International Space Station in Kazakhstan on Monday. The torch will play a role in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.

A Russian Soyuz space capsule landed safely on the steppes of Kazakhstan, returning three spacefliers to Earth along with one other precious item: the Olympic torch.

The Soyuz spacecraft landed at 8:49 a.m. local time Monday (9:49 p.m. ET Sunday) under a clear blue sky in central Kazakhstan. Frigid temperatures greeted the returning space travelers Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg and Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano after five and a half months in space.

"The initial reports indicate a bull's eye landing for the Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft and its crew," NASA spokesman Rob Navias said during the space agency's televised landing commentary. [See more landing day photos for Soyuz crew]

Yurchikhin, Nyberg and Parmitano flew up to the International Space Station in late May and formed part of the outpost's six-person Expedition 37 crew, which Yurchikhin commanded. Before departing the station Sunday, Yurchikhin handed command of the station over to fellow cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, who now leads the station's Expedition 38 crew.

"Bye, station," Yurchikhin said as the Soyuz undocked on Sunday.

"Bye-bye," Nyberg added.

"See you, soon," Parmitano chimed in.

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Space station trio brings Olympic torch back down to Earth