Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov, the 15th crew of the International Space Station, landed safely in their Soyuz spacecraft at 6:36 a.m. EDT Sunday in the steppes of Kazakhstan.

A ballistic descent for the returning Soyuz resulted in a landing about 210 miles west of the nominal landing site.

With Expedition 15 was spaceflight participant Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, a Malaysian flying under an agreement with the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos). He arrived at the station with the Expedition 16 crew, Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko, and spent almost nine days on the orbiting laboratory.

Yurchikhin, 48, wound up his second flight into space. He was a member of the STS-112 crew which launched to the station on Oct. 7, 2002, with the Starboard 1 Truss. He holds a Ph.D. in economics and was named a cosmonaut-candidate in 1997.

Kotov, 41, finished his first spaceflight. He graduated from the Moscow Medical Academy in 1988, and was named a cosmonaut-candidate in 1996.

Astronaut Clayton Anderson was a member of the E15 crew during the latter part of its increment. Anderson is scheduled to remain on the station for the first part of E16. He is scheduled to be replaced by Dan Tani, to arrive aboard Discovery on its STS-120 mission. Discovery will take Anderson back to Earth.

Tani, 46, holds a master's degree in mechanical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was selected as an astronaut in 1996 and flew on Endeavour's STS-108 mission in December 2001. He will be making his second spaceflight.

Before closing the Soyuz-station hatches Sunday, Yurchikhin and Kotov said farewell to the E16 crew. Whitson and Malenchenko launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Oct. 10.

Whitson, 47, is on her second mission to the station. She served as a flight engineer on the Expedition 5 crew, launching June 5, 2002, and returning to Earth Dec 7, after almost 185 days in space. She holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Rice University in Houston. She began working for NASA as a research biochemist in 1989 and was selected as an astronaut in 1996.

Malenchenko, 45, a Russian Air Force colonel, is making his third long-duration spaceflight. He spent 126 days aboard the Russian space station Mir beginning July 1, 1994, and commanded the two-person station crew on Expedition 7, spending 185 days in space beginning April 26, 2003. He also was a member of the STS-106 crew of Atlantis on an almost-12-day mission to the station beginning Sept. 8, 2000. He is a graduate of the Kharkov Military Aviation School and the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy.

Yurchikhin and Kotov will spend several weeks in Star City, near Moscow, for debriefing and medical examinations.

The Expedition 15 crew members have returned home.

After bidding farewell to the Expedition 16 crew Saturday night, the Expedition 15 crew, Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov, boarded their Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft for the return to Earth. They undocked from the station around 3:14 a.m. EDT Sunday and landed in the steppes of Kazakhstan at 6:36 a.m.

Joining Expedition 15 for the journey home was spaceflight participant Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, a Malaysian flying under an agreement with the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos). He arrived at the station with the Expedition 16 crew, Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko, on Oct 12.

At a change of command ceremony Friday afternoon, the Expedition 15 crew formally handed over command of the station to Expedition 16.

Accepting command of the station from Yurchikhin, Whitson remarked, "It's been a very impressive mission, and you guys have performed exceptionally."

Flight Engineer Clay Anderson, who joined Expedition 15 in June, will remain onboard as a member of Expedition 16, until his replacement, astronaut Dan Tani, arrives on the STS-120 shuttle mission later this month.

When Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Sheikh Mustapha created history by blasting into space at 9.22pm on Oct 10 with two foreign counterparts, the whole nation was on cloud nine. 

The 35-year-old orthopaedic surgeon from Kuala Lumpur became the first Malaysian cosmonaut and the first Muslim in space during Ramadan. 

Back on earth, how far did our radio stations go to bring the historic event live from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the ordinary folk? 

I began monitoring news of the lift-off at 6.30pm that day. 

RTM's Traxx fm was counting down the hours to the momentous occasion. Deejay Double D invited listeners to share over the phone what they thought might be going on in Dr Sheikh’s mind then. 

Give him a Datuk title upon his return, remarked one. Another expressed her anxiety but wished the astronauts a safe journey. While we can safely say that getting decorated must be the last thing on our Angkasawan's mind then, we’re sure there was a great sense of anxiety before he embarked on a mission of such magnitude. 

(Incidentally, Dr Sheikh's touchdown on earth is scheduled for 11pm today, Malaysia time.) 

Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's notable speech from the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, where the Prime Minister joined other VIPs and invited Malaysians to view the launch on TV, was aired live on Astro but not on our radio stations.  

This was indeed a pity for those without a TV around.  

Our radio programmers should realise that catching a summary of the PM's speech later in a news bulletin or in the newspapers the next morning is not quite as exciting or heartfelt as experiencing it in real time. Thus, the need for "live" transmissions. 

Traxx fm was poor in prioritising its news items. With only a little over two hours to go before the rocket lift-off, the top story on the English broadcaster at 7pm was something about product price increase during Hari Raya, which was due in three days. 

At least Radio24 got things right.  

The station run by the national news agency Bernama not only began its 7pm news with the latest space countdown time-check but its top story was on former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's congratulatory message to Dr Sheikh.  

That was immediately followed up by a crossover interview with Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis from Kazakhstan.  

Dr M's greetings were only carried on Traxx fm at 8pm – a good hour after Radio24 had aired the news. 

By 8pm, Radio24 was further ahead of Traxx fm. With great anticipation in their voices, the announcers reported how the whole nation was now eagerly awaiting the blast-off in Kazakhstan of the Russian Soyuz spaceship. 

Sad to say, on the whole what radio gave us was rather disappointing compared to what TV viewers enjoyed. 

Between 7pm and blast-off, the deejays just played music while some made silly comments and "jokes" about space. 

Our FM bands could have chartered new ground in radio broadcasting through this significant launch.  

How wonderful it would’ve been on that evening if radio stations had engaged listeners in general knowledge contests about space missions. 

And instead of CDs and food vouchers, giveaways like binoculars, telescopes, space maps, etc, would be apt to encourage Malaysians to explore the universe beyond.

Malaysian angkasawan Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor will receive a warm welcome when he lands today.

He and fellow crew members Fyodor Yuchikhin and Oleg Kotov are scheduled to land in Arkylk, Kazakhstan, at 6.37pm Malaysian time.

A recovery team, including Angkasawan project director Kol Dr Zulkeffeli Mat Jusoh and technical committee member Datuk Dr Mazlan Othman will be the first Malaysians to welcome Dr Muszaphar.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak will witness the landing from Mission Control Centre in Moscow.

Najib, who will be accompanied by Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis, will then speak at a news conference together with officials from Roskosmos, the Russian space agency.

A landing ceremony will follow in Moscow, where each representative will congratulate each other on the mission.

Najib will then affix the Angkasawan logo on the wall of the Malaysian technical control centre room.

The sticking of a mission logo in Mission Control Centre, Moscow, is the custom after every successful space landing.

The entire event from the landing in Kazakhstan to the crew's departure into Star City for rehabilitation will be telecast live on Astro's channel 588.

Dr Zulkeffeli, the mission flight surgeon, will be assisting Dr Muszaphar with post-landing medical tests in Arkylk.

The crew will rest for about two hours in a medical tent at the landing site to allow them to re-adapt to Earth's gravity.

Dr Muszaphar, Yuchikhin and Kotov will then board a Russian military transport plane for the Kazakh town of Kustanai for their onward flight to Star City.

Najib will greet Dr Muszaphar at the Chkalovsky airfield adjacent to the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Star City, where the crew is expected to arrive at midnight Malaysian time.

The encounter is likely to be an emotional one as it also will be Dr Muszaphar's first meeting with his parents, Datuk Mustapha Sheikh Abdul Shukor and Datin Zuraida Sheikh Ahmad, in months.

They will have only 15 minutes with their son as the crew will have to leave immediately for the profilactorium where they will undergo physical rehabilitation.

Yuchikhin and Kotov, who both spent six months in microgravity, will be considerably weaker than Dr Muszaphar, who is expected to recover faster as he spent 11 days in space.

He will undergo several weeks of medical tests and rehabilitation before being allowed to return to Malaysia.

To mark the end of their mission, an inauguration ceremony will be held in Star City on Nov 9 where the crew will be certified as having completed their mission.

"All crew members have been recovered and they are feeling quite well," Perminov said at a news conference at mission control.

The Soyuz's different path on descent was apparently due to a computer glitch and the cosmonauts were subjected to higher than normal gravity load on their descent, Lyndin said.

A similar problem occurred in May 2003 when the crew experienced a steep, off-course landing.

Salvage crews located that spacecraft after several hours of searching.

The Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft landed in Kazakhstan today, bringing outgoing space station commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, flight engineer Oleg Kotov and Malaysia's first man in space, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, safely back to Earth after a steeper-than-usual descent that left the ship well short of its intended landing site.

The spacecraft undocked from the aft port of the Russian Zvezda command module around 3:14 a.m. EDT. Yurchikhin fired the capsule's braking rockets for four minutes beginning at 5:47 a.m. to begin the hourlong descent. At 6:14 a.m., the craft reached the discernible atmosphere at an altitude of 400,000 feet.

Plunging back to Earth from west to east over central Kazakhstan, the flight plan called for a landing near the town of Arkalyk. But for reasons yet to be explained, the Soyuz flew a steeper-than-planned trajectory and landed short of the intended touchdown point, subjecting the crew to higher-than-normal braking forces. It was the first "ballistic" re-entry since the Soyuz TMA-1 spacecraft returned on May 3, 2003, with the space station's sixth full time crew.

Landing some 211 miles west of Arkalyk, there was no live television coverage of the landing. But NASA commentator Rob Navias, monitoring the re-entry from the Johnson Space Center's mission control in Houston, said Russian recovery forces aboard search aircraft spotted the capsule as it descended under its main parachutes at an altitude of about 5,000 feet. Russian flight controllers said recovery crews contacted the cosmonauts during the final moments of the descent and were told the crew was in good shape.

Touchdown occurred a few minutes later, around 6:36 a.m., one minute earlier than planned.

"It's on the ground and five minutes ago a helicopter landed right next to it," a Russian flight controller radioed the space station crew in orbit. "The guys are being extracted from the descent module and they're feeling fine."

Yurchikhin, Kotov and U.S. space tourist Charles Simonyi were launched to the international space station last April. Yurchikhin and Kotov were replaced by Expedition 16 commander Peggy Whitson, the first woman to command the lab complex, and flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko. Whitson, Malenchenko and Shukor were launched Oct. 10 aboard the Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft.

"The crew is safe on the ground," Navias reported. "It landed almost in an upright position, slightly canted, we are told, one helicopter on the ground, others soon to arrive to continue the process of beginning to safe the vehilcle and extract the crew."

By 6:55 a.m., all three crew members were reported out of the capsule.

According to Russia's mission control spokesperson, the capsule deviated from its intended landing site after a technical problem during the descent but the crew was unharmed.

The craft landed 340km west of the planned landing site near Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, where it was found by a search party,  reports say.

For Russians, Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov, as well as Malaysia's first astronaut Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, the return journey took just over three hours.

Hundreds have gathered at the mission control centre – officials, journalists, the Malaysian delegation, and families and friends of the cosmonauts – to welcome the spacemen home.

The 16th International Space Station mission, including Peggy Whitson and Yury Malenchenko, remains in space and is to spend a total of 190 days in orbit.

"We appreciate everything you’ve done over the course of last six months. It is a very impressive mission. You guys performed exceptionally," said Peggy Whitson to Fyodor Yurchikhin, as she took over the controls of the ISS.

The 16th mission is due to stage two spacewalks and host a planned December shuttle flight, bringing a European-built laboratory. A Russian cargo ship is also due to arrive before the year is out.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Space Shuttle Discovery is ready for its scheduled launch on Tuesday.

Mission Commander Pamela Melroy will become the second female to lead a shuttle crew.

The Discovery will attach a large docking port to the ISS which will be used to connect laboratories from Europe and Japan.

The crew returning from the International Space Station landed safely Sunday in Kazakhstan, after the off-nominal descent profile.

The reentry capsule of the Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft carrying members of Expedition 15 to the station Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov, along with Malaysian astronaut Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, landed on October 21, 2007, at 13:36 Moscow Time (5:36 a.m. Houston Time).

The crew was reported to be safe, however the capsule touched down some 340-370 kilometers west of the primary landing site, as a result of the "ballistic" reentry. Unlike the primary flight profile, the ballistic flight mode can not take full advantage of aerodynamic properties of the capsule, which enables more controlled and gentle descent. The ballistic descent is always available in the flight program of any Soyuz spacecraft, as a backup to the nominal aerodynamic flight mode.

According to the Russian space officials, the crew was subjected to higher than nominal G-loads (as much as 8.5 G), however otherwise, the landing was normal.

The cause of the switch from a nominal aerodynamic reentry mode to a much steeper ballistic trajectory was not immediately known. Russian officials formed an investigation commission to analyze the incident.

In the wake of a similar ballistic landing of the Soyuz TMA-1 spacecraft in 2003, two Mi-8 helicopters were pre-deployed near the alternative landing site for the ballistic descent. The crews of these helicopters observed normal landing of the spacecraft and the found the capsule on its side and next to a small grass fire caused by soft-landing engines. There was no live TV transmission from the landing site to the mission control in Korolev, which did cause some anxiety among officials and family members of the crew. However just 20 minutes after spacecraft's touchdown, rescuers reported that all crew members were safely extracted from the capsule.

Main recovery aircraft were diverted to the backup landing site.

According to NASA, in preparation for landing, the crew of Soyuz TMA-10 closed the hatches from the station to the spacecraft around 10:00 p.m. Houston Time on October 20, 2007. The vehicle undocked from the aft port of theZvezda service module of the station at 2:14 a.m. (07:14 UTC; 11:14 Moscow Time) on October 21 and three minutes later initiated a separation burn to increase its distance from the ISS.

A four-minute deorbit burn, intended to send theSoyuz on its reentry path was initiated at 4:47 a.m. Houston Time, and around 25 minutes later, the habitation and the service module separated from the reentry capsule carrying the crew. Around 5:18 a.m. Houston (13:18 Moscow Decree Time) Oleg Kotov reported that the capsule's computer switched to the "ballistic" mode of descent. Thanks to the timely reporting of the incident by the crew, ground control in Korolev was able quickly estimate the new location of the landing and direct rescuers to the area.

According to Russian reports, soft-landing engines of the Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft, designed to fire at the touchdown, were activated at 13:36 Moscow Decree Time (14:36 Moscow Time), which is around one minute ahead of the nominal schedule. The shift reflects faster, shorter descent trajectory. First helicopters landed near the capsule at 14:43 Moscow Time, or just seven minutes after the spacecraft touchdown.