CRI听力：Russian Soyuz Capsule Returns, But off Target

Russian space officials have said a Soyuz capsule carrying South Korea's first astronaut landed safely in northern Kazakhstan, but more than 400 kilometres off target.

Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin said the condition of the crew - South Korean bio-engineer Yi So-yeon, American astronaut Peggy Whitson and Russian flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko - was satisfactory.

But Lyndin also said the Russian TMA-11 craft touched down around 20 minutes later than scheduled and some 420 kilometres from its target.It's a highly unusual distance given how precisely engineers plan for such landings.

The craft also followed a "ballistic re-entry" - a very steep trajectory that subjects the crew to extreme physical force, 10 times those on Earth. (www.hXen.com)

Vasili Tsybliyev, Chief of the Russian Space Training Centre, gave more information on the landing.

"Now the crew will spend a week on rehabilitation and period of adaptation. Everything is normal. They are smiling, so everything is good. Congratulations. Thank you. Everything is normal."

Christopher Scolese of NASA said the crew had accomplished great things in space that demonstrated true international cooperation, adding Japanese and European modules to the International Space Station.

Yi travelled to the station on April 10th, along with cosmonauts Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko, who have replaced Whitson and Malenchenko.

South Korea paid Russia 20 million dollars for Yi's flight.

Whitson and Malenchenko spent roughly six months performing experiments and maintaining the orbiting station.