Expedition 20 Flight Engineer Michael Barratt is surrounded by support personnel shortly after landing in Kazakhstan. Credit: NASA TV

Expedition 20 crew land in Kazakhstan

Expedition 20 Commander Gennady Padalka, RN3DT,
Flight Engineer Michael Barratt, KD5MIJ and Canadian spaceflight participant Guy Laliberte have returned to Earth, landing on the steppes of Kazakhstan in their Soyuz TMA-14 spacecraft.
Landing occurred at 12:32 a.m. EDT, 10:32 a.m. Kazakhstan time.

Padalka and Barratt stayed aboard the orbiting laboratory for 197 days. The duo arrived at the station in March to begin Expedition 19 then transitioned to the six-member Expedition 20 crew in May. Padalka commanded both Expedition crews.
Laliberte launched September 30 with the Expedition 21 crew and spent nine days on the station.

The three were scheduled to fly back to the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia outside Moscow early Sunday for reunions with their families, and for Padalka and Barratt, the start of their reorientation to a gravity environment after a half year off the planet.

The station is now occupied by Expedition 21 Commander Frank De Winne, ON1DWN, of the European Space Agency and Flight Engineers Roman Romanenko and Max Suraev of Russia, Bob Thirsk of the Canadian Space Agency and Nicole Stott, KE5GJN and Jeff Williams, KD5TVQ of NASA.