The two-man crew of the eighth expedition to theInternational Space Station (ISS) and a European astronaut are back on terrafirma after a smooth landing on the steppes of Kazakhstan.

The Soyuz capsule carrying Expedition 8 commander MichaelFoale and flight engineer Alexander Kaleri came to a final stop on time and ontarget at 8:12 p.m. EDT Thursday (0012 GMT Friday), ending a successful 195-daymission in space that included a number of makeshift repairs and oneunprecedented spacewalk. Accompanying them in the descent was Dutch astronautAndre Kuipers, who visited the station for nine days conducing experiments forthe European Space Agency (ESA).

This was a perfect touchdown, right on the money, saidNASA spokesman Rob Navias, who arrived at the landing site in one of the firstrecovery helicopters to reach the spacecraft. You could have literally painteda bullseye on the landing site.

Expedition 8s homecoming started early this afternoon, withFoale and Kaleri giving their goodbyes to the Expedition 9s Gennady Padalkaand Michael Fincke, the stations new crew. The astronauts exchanged heartyembraces and goodbyes, then Foale, Kaleri and Kuipers floated into their SoyuzTMA-3 spacecraft, shutting the hatch behind them at 1:47 p.m. EDT (1747 GMT).

Thank you very much forall your support and good work, Foale said to ISS mission controllers in atelevised address from the station. Were looking forward to seeing you,everyone, and our families.

The smell of Kazakhstans dirt was a beautiful sensationfor Foale, who was surprised to smell the charred exterior of his Soyuzspacecraft on the way down to Earth, Navias said, adding that air vents in thevehicle open during descent, allowing charred flakes into the capsule.

Kaleri, Expedition 8s flight engineer and commander of thereturn Soyuz trip, said he and Foale wished good luck to the Expedition 9 crew,hoping nothing but success for the continuing human presence aboard the ISS.

Everything has a start,and everything comes to a completion, Kaleri said. We had a lot to do at thebeginning of the mission, and now were handing it over.

Descending to Earth

After two hours of checks to ensure their spacecraft wasproperly sealed, and undocked from the space stations Pirs Docking Moduleright on time at 4:52 p.m. EDT (1752 GMT), the beginning of their Earth decent.Just over three hours later, the Soyuz safely landed upright just north ofArkalyk, Kazakhstan.

Its really gotten a lot quieter here in the InternationalSpace Station, said Fincke after closing the hatch behind the Expedition 8crew. Im sure their families are going to be happy to see them.

The Expedition 8 crewmembers were offered tea as about 48recovery workers helped them out of their spacecraft and into special reclinersduring preliminary medical tests.

Navias said that Kuipers and the Expedition 8 crew lookedvery well after their landing, which took place on a clear, blue Kazakhstanmorning.

I am very happythis flight has been very good, Kuiperstold mission controllers before leaving the ISS. Kuipers, originally a medicaldoctor from the Netherlands, spent 11 days in space, nine of them conductinglife science experiments aboard the ISS. Launched up to the space station onApril 18 with the Expedition 9 crew, this mission marked his first spaceflight.

The Expedition 8 crews landing was not hindered in anyway by a heliumleak in the fuel tank of their Soyuz craft. Russian ISS mission controllerssaid the leak was a minor and would not affect the landing.

After completing their required medical checks, theKuipers and the Expedition 8 crew will travel to Star City, Russia thisevening, where their families and loved ones are waiting for them.

In-flight repairs and spacewalks

Among the highlights of Expedition 8 are the in-flightrepairs required by Foale and Kaleri, as well as a two-manspacewalk, which left the ISS empty for the first time in its history ofcrewed flight.

During their time aboard the ISS, Foale and Kaleri trackeddown and patched an air leakin a station window and fixed a faulty Elektron air generation device, provingthat unplanned, in-flight repairs could be performed.

Overall, we have a better space station because of thiscrew, said Joel Montalbano, NASAs lead flight director for Expedition 8,during a mission wrap up earlier this month.

The Expedition 8 crew also performed a major repair of theirexercise treadmill, a critical piece of equipment that keeps the bodies ofastronauts healthy in the absence of gravity. Working closely with each otherand engineers on the ground, Foale and Kaleri took the treadmills gyroscopeapart piece-by-piece, replaced a faulty bearing, then reassembled the deviceinto working order.

The repair is something that Houston engineers wouldtypically perform on the ground and included equipment neither Foale nor Kaleriwere familiar with, ISS officials said.

Expedition 8s success with in-flight repairs bolsters theconfidence station controllers have in an upcoming repairfor Expedition 9, which is expected to perform an unplanned spacewalk to repairthe power system for a gyroscope in the ISS attitude control system.

Similarly, the two-person spacewalk performed by theExpedition 8 crew prepared both astronauts, as well as U.S. and Russian ISSmission controllers in how to conduct future spacewalk while operating at areduced crew capacity.

Records to go around

During the Expedition 8 increment, Foale and Kaleri spent atotal of 195 living and working aboard and outside the ISS. Foale set a newNASA record for logging the most time in space with 374 total days off-Earth.He is the first U.S. astronaut to spend more than a year in space and the 16^thlongest duration astronaut in the world. The other 15, including Kaleri, areRussian cosmonauts.

Kaleri also moved up in the cumulative spaceflight rankings.With the completion of Expedition 8, he has logged 611 days in space, placinghim fifth in the world of space travelers.

But records aside, NASA and its partner space programs stillhave their work cut out for them if they plan to continue pushing human spaceexploration further away from Earth, Foale said.

Weve gone an awful long way, but around the Earth and notout of Earth orbit, he said during a recent press conference. We see theInternational Space Station as a base camp to mount further expeditions to themoon and then on to Mars.