Russia’s Soyuz space capsule landed safely in Kazakhstan on Monday, returning three astronauts and the symbolic Olympic Torch to Earth after its first ever spacewalk.
According to the RIA Novosti news agency, the spacecraft landed on the Kazakh steppe, some three hours after undocking from the International Space Station with Russia’s Fyodor Yurchikhin, the US’s Karen Nyberg and Italy’s Luca Parmitano on board.Shortly after landing, Yurchikhin handed the torch to representatives of the Russian Olympic Committee.
Two Russian cosmonauts, Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazansky, took the torch into open space on Nov. 9 for an hour-long photo and video session as part of an almost six-hour scheduled maintenance spacewalk.
The torch remained unlit throughout the flight for safety reasons.
This story first appeared in the blog, The Sport Intern. The editor is Karl-Heinz Huba of Lorsch, Germany. He can be reached at ISMG@aol.com. The article is reprinted here with permission of Huba.