The landing capsule of the Soyuz TMA-011M manned spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station AT 2236 GMT on 14 May 2014 carrying three crew: Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata and US astronaut Ric, Mastriacchio. The capsule and crew landed safely using a rocket assisted parachute touch down at 0158 GMT on 15 May in a desolate region of Kazakhstan near the town of Dzhezkazgan. The crew were later recovered by helicopter.
The landing was made in the background of worsening relations between the Russian and US space programmes in the wake of the Russian annexation of parts of Ukraine. Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Rogozin has said he will ban the use of Russian rocket engine hardware on any US military launch including Energomash-made RD-180 rocket engines. This effectively precludes the US Air Force using the Atlas V rocket – one of two main designs in the United Launch Alliance (ULA) fleet. Meantime, Rogozin also hinted that the ISS will have no future after 2020 and that GPS ground stations located in Russia would be shut down. Rogozin had been earlier cited as a reason for US temporary disbarment of Russian-built RD-180 engines being imported into USA under US sanctions applied against certain members of the Russian government. However the Rogozin connection to the rocket engine manufacturer Energomash is not proven so RD-180 engine import ban to ULA was lifted. A fuller story is on Space News.
