Another flight crew returned to Earth from the International Space Station in a tiny Russian Soyuz capsule on Sunday, and this time they brought back a little piece of history.
NASA Flight Engineer Karen Nyberg, Expedition 37 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin of Roscosmos and European Space Agency Flight Engineer Luca Parmitano towed the Olympic torch, which launched with the Expedition 38 crew on Nov. 7.
Although it was in orbit for a very short time, the torch had its first "spacewalk" on Nov. 9 when two Russian cosmonauts passed it between two modules as part of an "international relay." Now back on Earth, the torch will continue its trek to Sochi, Russia for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.
Nyberg, Yurchikhin and Parmitano of Exp. 37 lived on the ISS for five and a half months. Nyberg made her mark as the first astronaut to post to Pinterest while in orbit. Parmitano, the first Italian to complete a spacewalk, also posted incredible flyby photos to Twitter while on board the ISS.
Just before boarding the Soyuz, Nyberg snapped one last photo.
Going home! pic.twitter.com/jEuhO1F1EA— Karen L. Nyberg (@AstroKarenN) November 10, 2013
The crew undocked from the space station on Sunday evening Eastern time. The Soyuz capsule is seen here at 6:30 p.m. ET as it descends toward Earth.
Image: NASA TV
Once the Soyuz makes a rather violent, fiery pass through Earth's atmosphere, it deploys a parachute to slow its speed before landing just southeast of the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakstan.
Image: NASA/Carla Cioffi
Image: NASA/Carla Cioffi