Space capsule lands miles off target

A Soyuz capsule carrying South Korea’s first astronaut landed in northern Kazakhstan, several hundred miles off target, a Russian space official said today.

Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin said the Russian TMA-11 craft’s homing beacon was operating and search crews were en route to the site by helicopter and truck.

He said the craft touched down at around 0830 GMT some 260 miles (420km) off target – a highly unusual distance given how precisely engineers plan for such landings.

Russian space officials said flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko reported the that crew was fine.

The other crew members are South Korean bioengineer Yi So-yeon and American astronaut Peggy Whitson.