Astronauts OK After Rough Landing

Soyuz capsule veers hundreds of miles off course
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 19, 2008 9:24 AM CDT
Astronauts OK After Rough Landing
Ground crew members help U.S. astronaut Peggy Whitson, left, after landing in northern Kazakhstan Saturday April 19, 2008.    (AP Photo/Shamil Zhumatov, Pool)

Three space travelers returning from the International Space Station are OK after a rough landing hundreds of miles off course in Kazakhstan this morning, Space.com reports. The Soyuz space capsule carrying US astronaut Peggy Whitson, a Russian cosmonaut, and South Korea's first astronaut veered nearly 300 miles off target and subjected the three to severe G-forces, MSNBC reports.

“They are feeling fine” said Russia's Mission Control. "The capsule landed with an overshoot. Such things happen." The Soyuz came in on a steep re-entry, making the gravitational forces on the astronauts greater than usual. It's the second straight Soyuz landing to go awry—a similar landing took place in October. (More Soyuz stories.)

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