Russian Soyuz, With Korean Space Pioneer, Lands Off Mark – New York Times
A Russian Soyuz capsule carrying South Korea’s first astronaut landed on Saturday in northern Kazakhstan 260 miles off its mark and 20 minutes late, Russian space officials said.
A spokesman for mission control, Valery Lyndin, said the crew — Yi So-yeon, a South Korean bioengineering student; Peggy A. Whitson, an American astronaut; and Col. Yuri I. Malenchenko, a Russian flight engineer — was safe, though the three had been subjected to severe G-forces during the re-entry.The Russian-made Soyuz capsule touched down at 4:51 a.m. Eastern time about 260 miles off target, the spokesman said, which was highly unusual given how precisely engineers plan for such landings. It was also about 20 minutes later than scheduled.
