July 01, 2012

Joshua Buck Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 jbuck@nasa gov

Kelly Humphries Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 kelly o humphries@nasa gov

RELEASE: 12-222

TRIO FROM INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION LANDS SAFELY IN KAZAKHSTAN

HOUSTON -- Three members of the Expedition 31 crew undocked from the International Space Station and returned safely to Earth Sunday, July 1, wrapping up a mission that lasted six-and-a-half months

Russian Commander Oleg Kononenko, NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit and European Space Agency Flight Engineer Andre Kuipers landed their Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft in Kazakhstan at 3:14 a m CDT (2:14 p m local time) after undocking from the space station's Rassvet module at 11:47 p m June 30 The trio, which arrived at the station Dec 23, 2011, spent a total of 193 days in space, 191 of which were aboard the station

During their expedition, the crew supported more than 200 scientific investigations involving more than 400 researchers around the world The studies ranged from integrated investigations of the human cardiovascular and immune systems to fluid, flame and robotic research

Before leaving the station, Kononenko handed over command of Expedition 32 to the Russian Federal Space Agency's Gennady Padalka, who remains aboard the station with NASA astronaut Joe Acaba and Russian cosmonaut Sergei Revin NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide will join them July 17 Williams, Malenchenko and Hoshide are scheduled to launch July 14 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan

On June 25, Pettit celebrated achieving one cumulative year in space, combining his time in orbit on Expedition 6, Expedition 30/31 and the STS-126 space shuttle Endeavour flight to the station in November 2008 Pettit now has 370 days in space, placing him fourth among U S space fliers for the longest time in space

During Expedition 31, Pettit also used household objects aboard the station to perform a variety of unusual physics experiments for the video series "Science Off the Sphere " Through these demonstrations, Pettit showed more than a million Internet viewers how space affects scientific principles

To watch "Science Off the Sphere" videos, visit:

http://www physicscentral com/sots

To follow Twitter updates from NASA's Expedition 31 and 32 astronauts, visit:

http://twitter com/Astro_Suni

https://twitter com/AstroAcaba

https://twitter com/Aki_Hoshide

For more information about Expedition 32 and the space station, visit:

http://www nasa gov/station

-end-

To subscribe to the list, send a message to: hqnews-subscribe@mediaservices nasa gov To remove your address from the list, send a message to: hqnews-unsubscribe@mediaservices nasa gov

The following information is a reminder of your current mailing list subscription:

You are subscribed to the following list: [list_name]

using the following email: example@example.com

You may automatically unsubscribe from this list at any time by visiting the following URL:

https://aus-city com/cgi-bin/dada/mail cgi/u/NASA_REPORTS/example/example com/

If the above URL is inoperable, make sure that you have copied the entire address Some mail readers will wrap a long URL and thus break this automatic unsubscribe mechanism

You may also change your subscription by visiting this list's main screen:

<[program_url]/list/[list]>

If you're still having trouble, please contact the list owner at:

<mailto:[list_owner_email]>

The following physical address is associated with this mailing list:

[physical_address]