The 7-day stay of American millionaire scientist Gregory Olsen has concluded as he, along with the Russian-American crew, departed from the space station, returning to Earth and landing in the Kazakh steppe early this morning (October 11).
Gregory Olsen, American astronaut William McArthur, and Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on October 1 and reached the space station after 2 days.
McArthur and Tokarev will remain at the station for 6 months, while Olsen returned with John Phillips and Sergei Krikalev, two astronauts who had been at the station since April.
The search and rescue team assisted the men out of their scientific equipment, seating them in chairs and draping them with down sleeping bags to combat the morning chill. Rescue officials reported that all crew members were in good health.
Sixty-year-old Olsen appeared with a bright smile, biting into a pear and sipping water contentedly while conversing with the ground control room. “I feel great“, he said in both English and Russian. “I want to enjoy some beef with red wine and take a hot bath“, Olsen shared with reporters.
Anatoly Perminov, head of the Russian space agency, remarked: “This journey has shown how we strive for your dreams. Olsen fought and won; he overcame the entire flight and all the preparations to become an astronaut, it’s extraordinary“.
Phillips seemed to lose consciousness, and rescuers waved a vial of smelling salts in front of him. Phillips’ wife revealed that her husband launched into space on her birthday and returned on hers as well. “I consider this truly the best gift one could ask for“, she said.
After landing, the astronauts underwent a 2-hour health check before boarding a plane to Kazakhstan, from where they would return to Moscow for further examinations.
McArthur and Tokarev were responsible for conducting operations outside the spacecraft during their time in space, as well as organizing scientific experiments, health checks, and maintaining daily operations.
Olsen, who spent 2 years training and paid $20 million for this trip, conducted experiments during the journey, including one to determine how bacteria form on the space station as a result of space travel, specifically whether their mutation rates are affected.
Additionally, Olsen filmed and photographed his experience, relishing the opportunity to be aboard the spacecraft and move freely in space.
The Soyuz spacecraft and uncrewed cargo ships from Russia have been at the space station since the 2003 Columbia disaster. The shuttle program was halted for over 2 years, with the Discovery shuttle launched in June, but issues related to its isolation have raised questions about when the next shuttle will be launched into space.
Despite financial challenges, Russia’s space program has maintained a strong reputation for reliability over the years, although its image was slightly tarnished last week by two failed test launches.
H.V (According to AP)
