ZVYOZDNY, Moscow Region. May 19 (Interfax-AVN) - The sixth expedition to the International Space Station (ISS) accomplished its mission in full, specialists say.
"The crew accomplished the mission perfectly. It fully implemented the program for the station maintenance and experiments," first deputy head of the Russian Aviation and Space Agency Nikolai Moiseyev told a welcoming ceremony for the crew in Zvyozdny on Monday.
He stressed that the psychological stress the crew had suffered from the news of the Columbia shuttle disaster "did not tell on their capacity for work."
NASA's Moscow representative James Newman noted the high professional and technical skills of the crew. He said the crew perfectly fitted the task of a lengthy space mission and implemented the flight program in full.
The crew, made up of Russian cosmonaut Nikolai Budarin and NASA astronauts Kenneth Bowersox and Donald Pettit, was in orbit from November 23, 2002, until May 4, 2003. Its space mission was extended for two months because of the Columbia shuttle disaster.
Pettit, a space novice, said that his stay in orbit was much more interesting than he had expected.
Budarin noted that the extended flight had not created any discomfort for the crew. "The fact that we felt normally after the ballistic landing once again confirms the good training of the crews and the reliability of our equipment," he said.
The NASA astronauts will go the United States on Wednesday.
While in orbit, the crew conducted extensive work to maintain the station, made two spacewalks and carried out a series of experiments.