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'The best thing I've ever done'
05/05/2002 07:42 - (SA)
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| Mark Shuttleworth (in the white T-shirt) says goodbye to the ISS crew before returning to Earth. (DStv, News24) |
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Astana, Kazakhstan - With a huge smile across his face, Mark Shuttleworth, landed safely
in Kazakhstan early on Sunday and said his space voyage was "the best
thing I've ever done".
The charred Soyuz capsule landed right on schedule at 07:51
Moscow time (05:51 SA time) after a more than three-hour descent near
the Kazakh town of Arkalyk under bright blue skies.
"It was just the most wonderful experience ever. It was
fantastic," Shuttleworth said
after he emerged from the capsule. A bystander handed him a blue
egg in honour of Orthodox Easter and his father knelt beside him,
talking about the trip.
Shuttleworth won't soon forget his $20 million voyage. To
make sure he'll have a big souvenir to remind him of the 10-day
journey into space, he has bought the Soyuz capsule and his space
suit.
Ecstatic, smiling continuously once he emerged from the capsule,
Shuttleworth said he would go up in space again - anytime.
Shuttleworth was the last of the crew to come out, and all three
were carried to a nearby medical tent for their first checkups.
The landing site was ringed with helicopters and surrounded by
medical experts and technicians.
Mom feels 'complete and absolute relief'
Back in Moscow, Shuttleworth's mother, Ronelle, who spent the
night at Mission Control, covered her face with her hands during
the landing, peeked occasionally at the big screen monitoring the
landing, and burst into tears after the successful touchdown was
announced.
"Complete and absolute relief," she said over and over. "It's
not your everyday family experience." She said she's been sleeping
in snatches over the last week while her son was in space. Her
husband had appeared tense as he waited for his son to emerge.
Shuttleworth's brother, Bradley, was also on hand. "I'm glad to
have him on terra firma. I'm stunned at how fast it went these last
10 days," he said. "I wonder if he'll want to do it again."
Several hours earlier at 04:31 Moscow time, 02:31 (SA time), the
capsule had successfully undocked from the International Space
Station (ISS), starting the descent process.
"I'm quite nervous. It's been a roller coaster ride," Ronelle
Shuttleworth said. "You never imagine your son doing something like
this. That's just not something that's an option for most of us."
Life on board the ISS
On his last day aboard the station, Shuttleworth caught up on
some sleep, allowing himself an extra hour.
But Shuttleworth's mission was jam-packed with experiments and
projects, enough to keep him busy at work from 06:00 to about 23:30 most days.
Five Russian planes, ten helicopters and five cross-country
rescue vehicles were on call to retrieve Shuttleworth and his two
crewmates, Flight Commander Yuri Gidzenko and rookie Italian
astronaut Roberto Vittori, from their landing in the barren Kazakh
steppes.
The crew will be evaluated
by Russian medical experts, then the trio will return to Russia's
Star City for more observation.
Rick Shuttleworth said when his son is cleared by medical
experts, his family plans to take him on vacation. This fall, the
world's second space tourist plans a tour around South African
schools to promote space studies, his father said. - Sapa-AP
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