South Korean astronaut OK after rough landing

By Shamil Zhumatov

KAZAKH STEPPE (Reuters) - A Russian space capsule landed about 260 miles off course in Kazakhstan on Saturday but South Korea's first astronaut and the other two crew were safe.

The Soyuz capsule landed west of the target area and about 20 minutes past the scheduled time after it adopted a so-called "ballistic landing," space officials said. Rescue helicopters rushed to the site.

"The capsule landed with an overshoot. Such things happen," said mission control spokesman Valery Lyndin.

He said the crew had begun leaving the capsule, which carried Yi So-yeon, a 29-year old nanotechnology engineer from Seoul, U.S. commander Peggy Whitson and Russian flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko.

A Reuters photographer, who traveled to the landing site in a helicopter with rescue crews, saw plumes of smoke rising from the capsule, which was lying in its side stamped about 30 cm into the ground with its parachute burning.

The photographer said the U.S. astronaut looked pale and was not fit enough to take part in a brief news conference. He said the Korean and the Russian looked fine as they traveled in a helicopter from the site to the Kazakh city of Kustanai.

He said the Korean had been dozing in the helicopter most of the way back to Kustanai but started smiling and made a flower drawing on the wall after she was served tea and had her blood pressure measured.

"Even though it is a very small place you can float back and fourth under each other, over each other," smiling Yi So-yeon told in English of her experiences in zero gravity environment at the International Space Station.