Junto a él han compartido misión el cosmonauta ruso Román Romanenko y el estadounidense Thomas Marshburn.
La cápsula que trajo de regreso de la Estación Espacial Internacional a los tres astronautas tocó tierra en Kazajistán de madrugada en España. El aterrizaje, que fue seguido desde el aire por doce helicópteros y tres aviones, se produjo en la zona prevista, a unos 150 kilómetros al sureste de la ciudad kazaja de Dzhezkazgán.
La televisión rusa ofreció imágenes del aterrizaje de la cápsula retransmitidas en directo desde el CCVE, situado en las afueras de Moscú. "La tripulación soportó perfectamente el aterrizaje. Los cosmonautas están de muy buen ánimo", se anunció por los altavoces de la sala principal del CCVE, según la agencia oficial rusa RIA-Nóvosti.
El propio Hadfield ya ha tuiteado su llegada a la Tierra: "A salvo en casa. De vuelta en la Tierra, felizmente readaptándome al pesado empuje de la gravedad. Es maravilloso oler y sentir la primavera".
Los tripulantes de la Soyuz TMA-07M regresaron a la Tierra tras cumplir una misión espacial de 142 días, en el curso de la cual, además de cumplir un vasto programa de experimentos científicos, recibieron en la EEI dos cargueros espaciales, un ruso Progress y un estadounidense Dragon. Durante su estancia en la plataforma orbital, Romanenko y Marshburn realizaron sendas "caminatas" espaciales: el primero, una contemplada el plan de vuelo, y el segundo, una imprevista, para subsanar una fuga de amoniaco.
QUEDAN OTROS TRES
En la plataforma orbital quedaron tres tripulantes: los rusos Pável Vinográdov y Alexandr Misurkin y el estadounidense Chris Cassidy. A ellos se sumarán a fines mes otros tres astronautas: el ruso Fiódor Yurchijin, el italiano Luca Parmitano y la estadounidense Karen Nyberg, que volarán a la EEI a bordo de la Soyuz TMA-09M, cuyo despegue está programado para el próximo día 29.
Después de que los transbordadores estadounidenses fueran retirados de servicio, la naves rusas Soyuz son los únicos vehículos que se emplean para el relevo de las tripulaciones de la EEI.
Inicialmente estaba previsto que la plataforma orbital cerrara sus puertas en 2015, pero Rusia y los otros 15 países miembros han insistido en la importancia de prolongar su vida útil, en gran medida porque su construcción aún no ha sido completada. Además de Rusia, Estados Unidos, doce países miembros de la Unión Europea (UE), Japón y Canadá participan en el proyecto, con un coste de 100.000 millones dólares.
Chris Hadfield's Best Photos From Space
"If you give wind and sand enough time together, they create art."
'The incredibly green lush wetness of the Amazon basin."
"These delicate cappuccino frosting decorations are, in fact, endless hummocks of Saharan sand."
'The Earth has problem skin; one popped, the other didn't."
"Even as I took this picture I was thinking it will make a nice desktop background. And it does."
"Some fault lines are visible from space. Tectonic plates make a rift in the Andes."
"Tonight's Finale: Nature inspires awe - cloud, ice and rock in southern South America."
"Happy Alligator Lake, Mexico. I'm certain it has an official name, but that's what it looks like to me."
'Tonight's Finale: Haruna, a large and powerful tropical cyclone, wreaks clockwise destruction across Madagascar."
"This taffy-twisted African rock reminds me of a dolphin, and Alfred Hitchcock."
"Freetown. A major west African port city, capital of Sierra Leone."
"I don't think that sand came from those rocks."
"This green Aussie lake somehow reminds me of a haggis."
"Glacial water burping into the Atlantic in deep Southern Argentina."
"Arid fingers of sand-blasted rock look like they're barely holding on against the hot Saharan wind."
"Mars is a very interesting planet, with its rugged, ancient surface. But this is Earth."
"Tonight's Finale: There is an undeniable beauty in human imagination. What do you see in this Saharan cloud?"
"Your perspective often dictates what you see. From here I see a puffball on an oyster half-shell. How about you?"
"Dragon skin. A bad place to take a walk, near the Horn of Africa."
"Tonight's Finale: The Himalayas to the horizon, gives me such a feeling of wild grandeur."
"Tonight's finale:You hear all about the man in the moon, but what about the man in Patagonia?"
"As I look at the verdant fjords and inlets of southern NZ, I ask myself can this possibly be real? Yet there it is."
"Where there's water, there's life. Serpentine river and center pivot irrigation farms in South Africa."
"A lot of the Australian Outback looks like somebody spilled something on it."
"Tonight's Finale: Asteroid impact - the Manicouagan Crater in Quebec. On old scar, but a big one at 100 km across."
"Split, Croatia, a fine natural harbor on the gorgeously rugged Adriatic coast."
"Cape Town, South Africa, the glinting sun highlighting the water."
"King George's Sound, Australia. Charles Darwin got off the Beagle and hosted a dance here in February, 1836."
"Eye of the Storm - Tropical Cyclone Haruna, today over Madagascar, with Canadarm2 pointing at the eye."
"Tonight's Finale: The full moon rises over the only planet we have ever called home."
"Mama Iceberg and her litter of baby ice cubes, slowly melting into the South Atlantic Ocean."
"The Outback is full of scary faces, staring up in forbidding horror."
"Tonight's finale: Northern Lights - recent aurora in green and red waves, USA and Canada below, the universe above."
"Clouds, shadows and sand, playing with my imagination."
"Earth has a bellybutton! My guess is that this perfect African circle is a meteor impact crater."
"Weightless in my new space pajamas - made in Russia, very warm and comfy."
Oil drilling draws a circuit board on the ochre landscape. pic.twitter.com/piYgOCsWYQ
Tonight's Finale: The Richat Structure. A giant gazing eye upon the Earth. pic.twitter.com/Uqv9JSh17b
An angry thunderstorm stands out against infinity. pic.twitter.com/du78qXnViK
Mt Etna, pouring heat and steam and smoke up through the snowcap. Earth never ceases to amaze. pic.twitter.com/xVjJ9oiwkW
Cloud over western Europe, rippled like water over a stone. pic.twitter.com/nlryEezlwh
Perth on the Swan to the sea, Western Australia. pic.twitter.com/MvrIuCs8eT
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In this photo posted on Twitter by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield on Jan. 7, 2013, the Greek Island of Corfu is shown. Hadfield is on a five-month visit to the space station and will become the first Canadian to take command of the giant orbi...
RE-TRANS FOR HIGHER RESOLUTION - This Tuesday Jan. 8, 2013 photo provided by NASA, taken by Astronaut Chris Hadfield from the International Space Station, shows a view of the wildfire near Burrinjuck Dam in Australia. Look closely and you can se...
In this photo posted on Twitter by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield on Jan. 7, 2013, corn rows of sand, tightly sculpted by wind, heat and time is shown in Saudi Arabia. Hadfield is on a five-month visit to the space station and will become the...
In this photo posted on Twitter by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield on Jan. 6, 2013, a Noctilucent Cloud, a rare super high altitude cloud barely visible from Earth, is seen at dawn in the mesosphere from International Space Station. Hadfield i...
Newfoundland and Labrador, shot without zoom, is shown in a photo posted on Twitter by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield on Jan. 7, 2013. Hadfield is on a five-month visit to the space station and will become the first Canadian to take command o...
In this photo posted on Twitter by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield on Jan. 5, 2013, the cities of Cleveland, Toledo, Ohio, and Detroit are shown. Hadfield is on a five-month visit to the space station and will become the first Canadian to take...
This photo, taken by Astronaut Chris Hadfield from the International Space Station, Tuesday Jan. 8, 2013 shows a view of the wildfires in Australia. (AP Photo/NASA, Chris Hadfield)
In this photo posted on Twitter by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield on Jan. 7, 2013, the Greek Island of Corfu is shown. Hadfield is on a five-month visit to the space station and will become the first Canadian to take command of the giant orbi...
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield holds a Toronto Maple Leafs sign on a photo posted to his Twitter account on Jan. 6, 2013. Professing his support for Toronto did not sit well with a number of hockey fans. Hadfield is on a five-month visit to t...
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield waves goodbye at the end of a news conference from the International Space Station on a photograph taken from a television monitor Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013 in St-Hubert, Quebec, Canada. Hadfield is on a five-mont...
This photo, taken by Astronaut Chris Hadfield from the International Space Station, Tuesday Jan. 8, 2013 shows a view of the wildfire near Burrinjuck Dam in Australia. Look closely and you can see the flames from orbit. (AP Photo/NASA, Chris Had...
The International Space Station (ISS) crew members, from left: Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, U.S. astronaut Thomas Marshburn and Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield speak with relatives after putting on their space suits at the Baikonur cosmo...
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"Seven billion hearts, but I can see only one."
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"The Earth has problem skin; one popped, the other didn't."
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"From space, a mighty mountain ridge turns into a tadpole."
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"A tonsil of cloud catches the light at sunset.."
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"Ghost of a checkerboard through the snow, foothills of the Rockies, USA."
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"Happy Alligator Lake, Mexico. I'm certain it has an official name, but that's what it looks like to me."
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"Arid fingers of sand-blasted rock look like they're barely holding on against the hot Saharan wind."
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"Gaspe, Quebec - avec une bouchee de glace - with a mouthful of ice."
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"Anticosti Island doing an excellent imitation of a Parrot Fish."
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"The dry folded skin of the Sahara desert, looking like the crust of a pie."
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"Looks like soft feather down, but it's bigger."
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"This cave painting is, in fact, raw geology in central South Africa."
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"Australia. Jackson Pollock would have been even further inspired by seeing the Outback from orbit."
"Australia. Jackson Pollock would have been even further inspired by seeing the Outback from orbit."
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"All the grains of sand in all the deserts can't compare to the number of ways I love you. #ValentineFromSpace"
In this photo posted on Twitter by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield on Jan. 7, 2013, the Greek Island of Corfu is shown. Hadfield is on a five-month visit to the space station and will become the first Canadian to take command of the giant orbi...
RE-TRANS FOR HIGHER RESOLUTION - This Tuesday Jan. 8, 2013 photo provided by NASA, taken by Astronaut Chris Hadfield from the International Space Station, shows a view of the wildfire near Burrinjuck Dam in Australia. Look closely and you can se...
In this photo posted on Twitter by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield on Jan. 7, 2013, corn rows of sand, tightly sculpted by wind, heat and time is shown in Saudi Arabia. Hadfield is on a five-month visit to the space station and will become the...
In this photo posted on Twitter by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield on Jan. 6, 2013, a Noctilucent Cloud, a rare super high altitude cloud barely visible from Earth, is seen at dawn in the mesosphere from International Space Station. Hadfield i...
Newfoundland and Labrador, shot without zoom, is shown in a photo posted on Twitter by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield on Jan. 7, 2013. Hadfield is on a five-month visit to the space station and will become the first Canadian to take command o...
In this photo posted on Twitter by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield on Jan. 5, 2013, the cities of Cleveland, Toledo, Ohio, and Detroit are shown. Hadfield is on a five-month visit to the space station and will become the first Canadian to take...
This photo, taken by Astronaut Chris Hadfield from the International Space Station, Tuesday Jan. 8, 2013 shows a view of the wildfires in Australia. (AP Photo/NASA, Chris Hadfield)
In this photo posted on Twitter by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield on Jan. 7, 2013, the Greek Island of Corfu is shown. Hadfield is on a five-month visit to the space station and will become the first Canadian to take command of the giant orbi...
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield holds a Toronto Maple Leafs sign on a photo posted to his Twitter account on Jan. 6, 2013. Professing his support for Toronto did not sit well with a number of hockey fans. Hadfield is on a five-month visit to t...
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield waves goodbye at the end of a news conference from the International Space Station on a photograph taken from a television monitor Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013 in St-Hubert, Quebec, Canada. Hadfield is on a five-mont...
This photo, taken by Astronaut Chris Hadfield from the International Space Station, Tuesday Jan. 8, 2013 shows a view of the wildfire near Burrinjuck Dam in Australia. Look closely and you can see the flames from orbit. (AP Photo/NASA, Chris Had...
The International Space Station (ISS) crew members, from left: Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, U.S. astronaut Thomas Marshburn and Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield speak with relatives after putting on their space suits at the Baikonur cosmo...