How Astronauts Travel These Days

NASA astronauts who live and work on the International Space Station get there and back by hitching rides with the Russians. You have to wonder what Kennedy and Khrushchev would think of that. On Thursday morning, cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova, and NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore (commander of Expedition 42) came home to Earth in a Soyuz spacecraft, floating down with the aid of an enormous parachute, to land in Kazakhstan. This picture of the golden parachute (which is actually red and white) was captured by NASA photographer Bill Ingalls. See more pictures from the successful landing at National Geographic. Get more technical details about the return at NASA.

(Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)