themoscowtimes--2020-04-17--Soyuz Crew Lands Back on Earth Transformed by Pandemic

Andrew Morgan , Jessica Meir and Oleg Skripochka touched down in central Kazakhstan at 05:16 a.m. GMT in the first returning mission since the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic in March .
Two NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut on Friday made a safe return from the International Space Station to find the planet transformed by the coronavirus pandemic .
Специалисты завершили эвакуацию экипажа пилотируемого корабля # СоюзМС15 из спускаемого аппарата .
// Specialists have finished recovering the # SoyuzMS15 crew from the descent module .
pic.twitter.com/D62xlWHL6m Morgan had been on the ISS since July last year , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
`` TOUCHDOWN !
Welcome home , Oleg Skripochka , Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir ! ''
Russia 's Roscosmos space agency wrote on Twitter .
Unusually , NASA and Roscosmos did not show live footage of the trio parachuting down in their Soyuz landing capsule .
This was scrapped `` due to technical limitations associated with the epidemiological situation , '' Roscosmos said .
Subsequent footage from the landing site showed recovery crews wearing face masks and rubber gloves as they hauled the crew members out of the Soyuz MS-15 capsule , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` Please keep your distance , '' one ground crew member could be heard telling another .
While the trio 's landing site southeast of the Kazakh town of Dzhezkazgan is the same as for previous crews , the pandemic has forced changes to mission-end protocol .
The crew will not be flying back home via Kazakhstan 's Karaganda airport as usual because it has been shut down , like so many other airports across the world .
Instead , Skripochka will fly from the Baikonur cosmodrome used to launch missions to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ off in a plane from the steppe city of Kyzlorda after a drive of several hours .

Two NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut on Friday made a safe return from the International Space Station to find the planet transformed by the coronavirus pandemic. Andrew Morgan, Jessica Meir and Oleg Skripochka touched down in central Kazakhstan at 05:16 a.m. GMT in the first returning mission since the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic in March.
Специалисты завершили эвакуацию экипажа пилотируемого корабля #СоюзМС15 из спускаемого аппарата.
//
Specialists have finished recovering the #SoyuzMS15 crew from the descent module. pic.twitter.com/D62xlWHL6m — РОСКОСМОС (@roscosmos) April 17, 2020
Morgan had been on the ISS since July last year, while Meir and Skripochka arrived in September. "TOUCHDOWN! Welcome home, Oleg Skripochka, Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir!" Russia's Roscosmos space agency wrote on Twitter. Unusually, NASA and Roscosmos did not show live footage of the trio parachuting down in their Soyuz landing capsule. This was scrapped "due to technical limitations associated with the epidemiological situation," Roscosmos said. Subsequent footage from the landing site showed recovery crews wearing face masks and rubber gloves as they hauled the crew members out of the Soyuz MS-15 capsule, which was lying on its side. "Please keep your distance," one ground crew member could be heard telling another. While the trio's landing site southeast of the Kazakh town of Dzhezkazgan is the same as for previous crews, the pandemic has forced changes to mission-end protocol. The crew will not be flying back home via Kazakhstan's Karaganda airport as usual because it has been shut down, like so many other airports across the world. Instead, Skripochka will fly from the Baikonur cosmodrome used to launch missions to the ISS while the NASA duo will take off in a plane from the steppe city of Kyzlorda after a drive of several hours.