{"id":30624178,"date":"2026-11-01T07:47:21","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T06:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/?p=30624178"},"modified":"2026-11-01T07:47:36","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T06:47:36","slug":"soyuz-landing-kazakhstan-zhezkazgan-how-it-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fr\/soyuz-landing-kazakhstan-zhezkazgan-how-it-works\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Soyuz Lands on the Kazakh Steppe: Three Hours From Orbit to Zhezkazgan"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\n<!-- mfsh:top -->\n\n<style>\n.mfsh-trigger{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;height:44px;padding:0 18px;margin:0 0 26px;border:2px solid #0F1720;background:#fff;color:#0F1720;font-family:inherit;font-size:14px;font-weight:700;line-height:1;letter-spacing:0;text-transform:none;cursor:pointer;box-shadow:none;transition:background .15s,color 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The region has been the Soviet and Russian landing zone since the 1960s, and the town has its own Soviet-era monument to the conquerors of space. Here is what happens between undocking and the moment the capsule hits the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f5f5f5;border-left:4px solid #1a1a1a;padding:18px 22px;margin:24px 0\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600\">Quick Facts<\/p><ul style=\"margin:0;padding-left:20px\"><li><strong>Landing area:<\/strong> Steppe of central Kazakhstan, often about 150 to 200 km south-east of Zhezkazgan<\/li><li><strong>Undocking to landing:<\/strong> About three and a half hours<\/li><li><strong>Deorbit burn:<\/strong> About 4 minutes 15 seconds, slowing the Soyuz by about 115 m\/s<\/li><li><strong>Entry interface:<\/strong> About 100 km altitude<\/li><li><strong>Parachutes:<\/strong> Drogue about 24 m\u00b2, main about 1,000 m\u00b2, opening around 10.7 km<\/li><li><strong>Final descent:<\/strong> About 7 m\/s under the main parachute<\/li><li><strong>Soft-landing engines:<\/strong> Six small engines fire about 0.8 m above the ground, slowing it to about 1.5 m\/s<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Why Kazakhstan<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Soviet space programme launched from Baikonur in Kazakhstan, and it brought its crews down on land rather than at sea. The steppe south of Zhezkazgan and around Arkalyk offered what a land recovery needs: hundreds of kilometres of flat, sparsely populated ground under the ground tracks of the launch orbits. Russia still uses the same region today under agreements with Kazakhstan. Recovery forces, with helicopters and all-terrain vehicles, work out of Karaganda and Zhezkazgan; in one 2007 landing described by VOA, ten helicopters flew from the Karaganda air base, about 300 km away.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">From Undocking to Deorbit<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Using the European Space Agency&rsquo;s published timeline for a typical return, the Soyuz undocks from the station, backs away slowly, and fires a short separation burn. A couple of hours later, about 12 km from the station, it performs the deorbit burn: roughly 4 minutes 15 seconds of thrust that reduces its speed by about 115 metres per second. That is enough to lower the far side of its orbit into the atmosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Three Modules Become One<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">About 23 minutes after the burn, at around 140 km altitude, the Soyuz separates into its three parts. The orbital module and the service module burn up; only the bell-shaped descent module, with the crew inside, is built to survive. It reaches the top of the atmosphere, the entry interface at about 100 km, a few minutes later, and its heat shield takes the brunt of re-entry while the crew feel several times their normal weight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/11\/soyuz-descent-module-landed-kazakhstan-steppe-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Soyuz MS-17 capsule landing near Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, with its parachute, April 2021\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">Soyuz MS-17 touches down near Zhezkazgan in April 2021, bringing NASA&rsquo;s Kate Rubins and her crewmates home. Photo: NASA\/Bill Ingalls, public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Parachutes and a Last-Second Kick<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At about 10.7 km, the parachute sequence starts. A small drogue of about 24 square metres slows the capsule from roughly 230 to 80 metres per second, then the main parachute of about 1,000 square metres opens and brings it down to about 7 metres per second. The heat shield is released to expose the landing engines. About two seconds before touchdown, at roughly 0.8 metres above the ground, six small solid-fuel engines fire to cut the landing speed to around 1.5 metres per second. It is still a hard jolt, and crews often describe the landing as a car crash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Recovery teams reach the capsule within minutes, help the crew out after months of weightlessness, and carry them to medical checks before flights home to Star City near Moscow or to Houston.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Monument in Zhezkazgan<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zhezkazgan&rsquo;s place in spaceflight is marked by a Soviet-era monument to the conquerors of space, a reminder that this copper-mining town has been the gateway home for generations of cosmonauts and, since the end of the Space Shuttle programme, for American, European and Japanese astronauts too. Details of the monument&rsquo;s date and designers circulate online, but we were unable to confirm them from an authoritative source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Sources: European Space Agency, Soyuz TMA-03M undocking, re-entry and landing sequence (2012); NASA, Soyuz TMA-17M landing site image (11 December 2015) and Soyuz MS-17 landing image (17 April 2021); Voice of America (18 May 2007).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<!-- mfsh:bottom -->\n\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"mfsh-trigger mfsh-bottom\" data-mfsh-placement=\"bottom\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><svg><use href=\"#mfsh-i-share\"\/><\/svg>Share this story<\/button>\n\n<!-- \/mfsh:bottom -->\n\n\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\n\n\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>Where do Soyuz capsules land?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Soyuz capsules land on the steppe of central Kazakhstan, typically south-east of the town of Zhezkazgan. The region has been the Soviet and Russian crewed landing zone since the 1960s.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How long does it take a Soyuz to get from the space station to the ground?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">A Soyuz return takes about three and a half hours from undocking to landing, including a deorbit burn of about 4 minutes 15 seconds, module separation, re-entry and the parachute descent.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How does a Soyuz slow down before landing?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">After re-entry, a drogue parachute of about 24 m\u00b2 opens at roughly 10.7 km, followed by a main parachute of about 1,000 m\u00b2 that slows the capsule to about 7 m\/s. Six soft-landing engines fire about 0.8 m above the ground to reduce the touchdown speed to about 1.5 m\/s.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why does Russia land Soyuz in Kazakhstan instead of the sea?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The Soviet programme chose land recovery, and the flat, sparsely populated Kazakh steppe beneath the launch orbits from Baikonur offered a large, safe landing zone. Russia continues to use the region under agreements with Kazakhstan.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Which parts of the Soyuz come back to Earth?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Only the descent module, which carries the crew, survives re-entry. The orbital module and service module separate at about 140 km altitude and burn up in the atmosphere.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Is a Soyuz landing rough?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Yes. Even with the soft-landing engines, the capsule touches down at about 1.5 m\/s with a hard jolt, and astronauts often compare a Soyuz landing to a car crash.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Where do Soyuz capsules land?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Soyuz capsules land on the steppe of central Kazakhstan, typically south-east of the town of Zhezkazgan. The region has been the Soviet and Russian crewed landing zone since the 1960s.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How long does it take a Soyuz to get from the space station to the ground?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"A Soyuz return takes about three and a half hours from undocking to landing, including a deorbit burn of about 4 minutes 15 seconds, module separation, re-entry and the parachute descent.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How does a Soyuz slow down before landing?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"After re-entry, a drogue parachute of about 24 m\u00b2 opens at roughly 10.7 km, followed by a main parachute of about 1,000 m\u00b2 that slows the capsule to about 7 m\/s. 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Even with the soft-landing engines, the capsule touches down at about 1.5 m\/s with a hard jolt, and astronauts often compare a Soyuz landing to a car crash.\"}}]}<\/script><div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\">\n<p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/yuri-gagarin-death-mig-15uti-crash-1968-seryogin-kirzhach\/\">Yuri Gagarin\u2019s Last Flight: The MiG-15UTI Crash of 1968<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For decades, crews returning from orbit in Soyuz capsules have come down on the open steppe of central Kazakhstan, south-east of the mining town of Zhezkazgan. Here is how a Soyuz gets from the space station to the ground in about three and a half hours.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":30624013,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[665],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30624178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-world"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How a Soyuz Lands in Kazakhstan Near Zhezkazgan | MiGFlug<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Soyuz crews come home to the steppe south-east of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan. 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