Landing – Spaceflight Now

Video: Crew members extracted from the Soyuz after landing

October 30, 2016 Justin Ray

One-by-one, the three crew members are pulled from the Soyuz MS-01 capsule and placed in reclining chairs minutes after landing in Kazakhstan.

Video: Soyuz MS-01 lands with three-person space crew

October 30, 2016 Justin Ray

The Soyuz MS-01 capsule safely returns to Earth, bringing back Expedition 49 commander Anatoly Ivanishin of the Russian Federal Space Agency, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency after a 115-day mission that spanned 48.6 million miles to the International Space Station.

July 24, 1969: Apollo 11 returns home

July 24, 2016 Justin Ray

Apollo 11 splashed down in the Pacific today in 1969, fulfilling President Kennedy’s challenge to a nation of landing a man to the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.

July 20, 1969: Lunar landing of Apollo 11

July 20, 2016 Justin Ray

Mankind’s first landing on the Moon and stepping foot on the lunar surface occurred today in 1969 by Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.

July 20, 1976: Landing on the red planet

July 20, 2016 Justin Ray

Today marks the 40th anniversary — July 20, 1976 — of the first U.S. robotic landing on another planet by the Viking 1 spacecraft on Mars.

April 14, 1981: Landing of Columbia on STS-1

April 14, 2016 Justin Ray

VIDEO: The winged spaceship Columbia returned to Earth with a pinpoint landing at Edwards Air Force Base on this day 35 years ago, concluding the maiden flight of the space shuttle.

SpaceX cargo ship returns to Earth

May 21, 2015 William Harwood

A SpaceX cargo capsule loaded with 3,100 pounds of research samples, no-longer-needed equipment and trash returned to Earth Thursday after a month-long stay at the International Space Station, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Long Beach, Calif., after a fiery descent from orbit.

STS-135: The final space shuttle landing

July 21, 2011 Spaceflight Now

VIDEO: By the light of a waning moon, the space shuttle Atlantis returned to Earth on July 21, dropping out of predawn darkness to close out NASA’s 135th and final shuttle voyage, a long-awaited – and long-dreaded – milestone marking the end of an era for American manned space flight. (Membership Required)