Donald Pettit and Kenneth Bowersox, on board the space station since November, were the first Americans to use a Soyuz capsule to return, forced to do without the U.S. space shuttle since the Columbia was ripped apart in its descent Feb. 1.
The Soyuz escape module reentry systems worked as planned but brought the space trio down about 460 km (280 miles) short of the usual Russian landing zone in Central Asia.
The chief of Kazakhstan's Aerospace Agency, Almas Kosunov, told
Itar-Tass news agency that the descending capsule was taken off course by a strong wind.
He said the three were being ferried to the Baikonur cosmodrome, from where they were to be flown to Russia later in the day.
CNN showed videotape of the space station crew smiling and embracing Russian and American officials in Kazakhstan, having waited four and a half hours for helicopters to pick them up.
The cramped capsule's array of parachutes deployed as scheduled and retro rockets fired as it dropped to the ground, a much different experience than the smooth glider-like runway landing of a shuttle.
Russian helicopters standing by for the touchdown had to land and refuel to reach the landing site. It took more than two hours for confirmation to reach NASA officials that the Soyuz capsule hatch was indeed open and the space travelers safe outside. They signaled to search aircraft that had followed a radio beacon to find them.
NASA spokesman Rob Navius, on board one of the recovery helicopters in Kazakhstan, telephoned back to his U.S. headquarters, "The crew (is) safe and sound, patiently waiting out their recovery from their Soyuz TMA-1 capsule, after about 162 days in space, landing about 460 kilometers to the southwest of their intended touchdown point.
"We will be several hours late, obviously, because of this unexpected development," Navius continued, referring to the delay in returning the two astronauts and cosmonaut to Star City near Moscow, where doctors were ready to examine them and where their families awaited.
"The crew, however, is safe and sound," Navius said. "It will just take a little extra time to pick them up."
Navius said the weather in north central Kazakhstan for the landing as "clear, very windy today but unlimited visibility and solid blue skies greeting the Expedition 6 crew in their unintended touchdown point to the southwest of here."
Bowersox and science officer Pettit had trained to fly in the Soyuz, but only in an emergency.
The capsule in which the men flew home had spent the last six months serving as the space station's emergency escape system. A new crew flew to the orbiting outpost a week ago in another Soyuz that will remain berthed there.
The capsule reached ground as scheduled at 10:07 p.m. EDT Saturday, 9:07 a.m. Sunday local time.
"We have a successful landing," a NASA flight controller told the new station crew. "Very good, " replied astronaut Ed Lu. "That's great news."
Lu will spend the next six months in space with just one crewmate, Commander Yuri Malenchenko. It is the first time the International Space Station is being left in the hands of just two people. NASA and its partners decided to cut one person from the crew in an effort to save water, food and other supplies until the shuttle fleet returns to service, as most of the station's gear is transported by the space shuttles.
Malenchenko formally took over command of the station in a ceremony Saturday morning.
"You guys have to be the two luckiest guys who come from the planet Earth today, " said Bowersox. "Over the next six months, you get to live aboard this beautiful ship. It's huge in size, it's tremendous in capability, it's an environment rich for discovery. I wish you well and I hope your expedition goes as wonderfully as ours has."
Bowersox and his crew had planned to fly home aboard shuttle Atlantis in March, but agreed to stay aboard the station an extra two months while NASA figured out how to keep the station staffed with its shuttle fleet grounded.
"I couldn't be prouder to be a member of the Expedition 6 crew, along with Nikolai and Don," said Bowersox. "Over the last 5 ½ months we've experienced some really sad moments and some extremely happy moments, but most important is we have managed to stay together as a crew. Each one of us has put individual interests aside, put the interests of the crew first."
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