Expedition 33 Crew Receives a Warm Welcome in Kazakhstan and Russia

Expedition 33 Commander Sunita Williams of NASA, Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko and Flight Engineer Aki Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency were greeted in a traditional ceremony at the airport in Kustanai, Kazakhstan, on Nov.19 hours after landing in their Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft on the steppe of Kazakhstan northeast of the town of Arkalyk.

After the ceremony, the crew split up, with Malenchenko returning to his training base in Star City, Russia, while Williams and Hoshide boarded a NASA plane in Kustanai to return to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The trio completed 127 days in space and 125 days aboard the International Space Station following a launch in mid-July. The footage includes an interview conducted with Williams in Kustanai before beginning her trip back to Houston.