Karaganda - Russia is laying on almost 300 soldiers, three aircraft and nine helicopters to ensure that a Franco-Russian cosmonaut team returns safely to earth from the International Space Station, officials said yesterday.
The three-strong team, which includes Ms Claudie Haignere, the first European woman to board the ISS, is due to return to earth at 5 a.m. Irish time today in the Kazakh steppe after a 10-day mission. A Russian space and research official said the team would hit earth 180 km south-east of the town of Djezkazgan.