Belgian astronaut Frank De Winne returned to Earth last Monday in Kazakhstan, next to the city of Arkalyk, with the rest of the crew members:  Flight Engineer and Soyuz Commander Roman Romanenko, and Canadian Space Agency Flight Engineer Robert Thirsk.

Expedition 21 (a six months mission) ended when the Soyuz TMA-15 spacecraft landed at 13,15 pm -Kazakhstan time-  They spent 188 days in space, 186 of those aboard the orbiting International Space Station

During this flight, Frank De Winne became the first European commander of the biggest orbital complex in the history. When De Winne, Thirsk Romanenko arrived at the ISS in May 2009 they constituted the first permanent crew of six people, in addition with three more astronauts who were already at the station

 It was the first landing in December by a Soyuz rocket since 1990. Landings usually take place in November, before the Russian winter conditions get worse, but this time the rigors of cold were delayed and it was decided to stretch the mission a few days to give time the shuttle Atlantis, STS-129, to withdraw from the station.

From now Expedition 22 will be responsible of the International Space Station.  Jeffrey Williams and Maksim Surayev are the commanders.

 

Here, the launch of the spacecraft:

Scientific experiments

De Winne and his fellow astronauts did several experiments.

The advanced research of materials was boosted thanks to the commissioning of the Laboratory for Materials Science, which was developed in the two experiments to understand the solidification of metallic alloys, which will optimize certain industrial processes.

 At Facility Diagnosis of Protein Crystallization of ESA, they studied the protein crystal growth for more than three months. They brought back to Earth this stable and high quality crystals to investigate their growth

De Winne and his crew also conducted several experiments on human physiology to investigate the adaptation of the cardiovascular system into space, retention of salt in the human body and how it changes our perception of three-dimensional microgravity conditions. Also developed an experiment with yeast in the form of ESA Biolab which allowed observing the formation of organized cellular structures.

 

 

 

Resources:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition21/exp21_land.html

http://www.deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.english/news/091201_Dewinne

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