Andromède mission landing - photo report
Andromède mission crew members, ESA astronaut Claudie Haigneré, Victor Afanassiev and Konstantin Kozeev, land in Kazakhstan after a 10 day mission to the International Space Station.
The Soyuz touched ground on 31 October 2001 at 05:59:26 CET (04:59:26 GMT) 180 km from the town of Dsheskasgan, in northern Kazakhstan, as planned. The landing took place under normal conditions.
The Andromède crew boarded the Soyuz vehicle on the evening of Tuesday 30 October. Closure of the hatch took place at 23:37 CET (22:37 GMT) followed by the undocking of the Soyuz vehicle on Wednesday 31 October at 02:39 CET (01:39 GMT).
The crew's mission to the International Space Station lasted a total of 10 days, during which time several scientific and technological experiments were undertaken.
With the return of the crew to Earth, the other prime objective of the mission has now been successfully completed - to deliver the Station's new lifeboat and exchange for the older Soyuz vehicle that had been attached to the Station for the past six months.
Claudie, who became the first European woman to board the International Space Station, described the mission as "a challenging and intensely fulfilling experience".
