Female Space Tourist Returns to Earth
The Soyuz capsule carrying Anousheh Ansari, the first female space tourist, touched down on the Kazakh steppe today upon its return from the International Space Station.
Ansari, cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov and U.S. astronaut Jeffrey N. Williams had left the station about three hours earlier.
Mission control said the capsule landed about 56 miles north of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan.
Video monitors showed an unidentified official on the ground presenting a seated Ansari with a large bouquet of red roses. Her husband, Hamid, kissed her face.
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