Two Russian cosmonauts, who spent six months on the Mir space station, landed safely in the steppes of Kazakhstan yesterday after one of the toughest missions in the history of manned space flight.
Cmdr Vasily Tsibliyev and Flight Engineer Alexander Lazutkin landed near the town of Dzhezkazgan shortly before 4.20 p.m. Moscow time (1220 GMT), slightly behind schedule.
The two, looking tired but well, smiled broadly as they emerged from their Soyuz capsule. Cmdr Tsibliyev said he felt "happy to be back on Earth".
The cosmonauts have endured a series of major problems since they arrived aboard Mir in February. The most serious was a collision between the station and its supply ship on June 25th.
Since then Mir has run on partial power. They also had to contend with a fire and a series of problems with their life support systems.
Rescue helicopters flew to the remote desert landing site, where doctors carried out extensive medical checks on the cosmonauts.
They said their heart and pulse rates were satisfactory. There had been some concern about the health of Cmdr Tsibliyev (43), who developed a stress-related cardiac problem while on Mir.
Live television pictures at Mission Control outside Moscow had shown Soyuz, with Cmdr Tsibliyev and Mr Lazutkin (39), on board departing from Mir at 12.56 p.m. Moscow time (0856 GMT).
There appeared to be a three-minute delay in the operation, but a Mission Control operator said the undocking went well.
"Everything is all right with you," the operator told the crew. "Thank God," replied Cmdr Tsibliyev.
British-born Michael Foale and the two Russian replacements, Cmdr Anatoly Solovyov and engineer, Mr Pavel Vinogradov, remained aboard Mir.
"I hope that everything bad that we've had will leave with us," said Cmdr Tsibliyev. "We are leaving. See you on Earth."
Despite the warm welcome for the two men yesterday, Cmdr Tsibliyev and Mr Lazutkin face an uncertain reception. President Boris Yeltsin said last week human error may have been to blame for the June crash, which threatened Mir's future.
But Mr Yeltsin's space and aviation aide, Marshal Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, told Interfax news agency yesterday no hasty conclusions should be drawn until a proper investigation into the accident.
After their medical checks, the cosmonauts were due to be taken by helicopter to Dzhezkazgan. From there they were expected to travel by plane to Chkalovsky military airbase near Moscow, from where a bus will take them to the Star City training centre.
"They may go home after seven or 10 days, but they will be able to see their families during this period," said Mr Pyotr Klimuk, head of the Cosmonauts' Training Centre.