UND Alum Astronaut Returns to Earth

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) — University of North Dakota graduate Karen Nyberg has returned from her most recent trip to space.

A Russian space capsule carrying Nyberg and two other astronauts returned to Earth on Monday from the International Space Station in a flawless landing in Kazakhstan. They brought the Sochi Olympic torch with them.

All three were to be taken for tests at a medical tent at the landing site, then flown to the city of Karaganda for a welcome ceremony.

Nyberg is from Vining, Minn. She graduated from UND in 1994, and went on to join NASA and take part in a 2008 mission on the space shuttle Discovery. She blasted off into space again last May.