3 in Space Station Crew Return to Earth

An American and two Russians who were aboard the international space station on Sept. 11 came home Monday to a world changed by terrorism and war.

Space shuttle Endeavour swooped through thick afternoon clouds, bringing astronaut Frank Culbertson and his crew mates safely back to Earth from their four months in orbit.

“We’re very grateful to be home for Christmas,” Culbertson said.

Only about 100 family members and top NASA officials lined the runway for the shuttle’s return. The crowd was one-tenth the usual size because of stepped-up security; most Kennedy Space Center employees were turned away.

Culbertson and cosmonauts Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin rocketed into orbit Aug. 10 and watched in horror from 250 miles up one month later as thick gray smoke billowed from the World Trade Center and Pentagon. The space station’s cameras captured images of the trade center that were relayed by NASA to news agencies around the world.

As a high-flying show of patriotism, Endeavour carried more than 6,000 American flags to the space station and back. The flags will be mounted on certificates and distributed to families of those killed Sept. 11, as well as to some survivors of the tragedy.

The three men spent 129 days in orbit, circled Earth more than 2,000 times and logged 53 million miles--more than half the distance between the Earth and the sun. They were the third crew to live on the international space station.

“Expedition 3 is more than ready to feel the Earth one more time,” shuttle commander Dominic Gorie said. Culbertson, Dezhurov and Tyurin came back with “smiles on their faces” and were strong enough to walk off the shuttle, Gorie said. They face weeks of rehabilitation to strengthen bones and muscles, weakened by weightlessness.

Culbertson and his crew were replaced by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Onufrienko, the new space station commander, and American astronauts Daniel Bursch and Carl Walz. They will stay until May.