Three ISS crew return to Earth in Russian capsule

Three astronauts touched down on the snowy steppes of Kazakhstan on Monday in a flawless pre-dawn landing aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule after spending over four months aboard the International Space Station (ISS).Russia's Yuri Malenchenko, Sunita Williams of the US and Akihiko Hoshide of Japan touched down as scheduled just before 0200 GMT, the Russian Space Flight Control Centre announced as the message "Landing Accomplished" was flashed on a giant screen.

The successful landing came after fears it could be postponed after workers in the Moscow region on Wednesday accidentally cut through a cable providing communications between Russia's mission control and the ISS.The three landed an hour before sunrise a few kilometres (miles) from the target northeast of Arkalyk in central Kazakhstan, a Central Asian ex-Soviet republic, an official said on NASA TV which showed the landing.

After stepping out of the capsule one by one, the three were placed side by side on a special seat and covered with a blue blanket to protect them from the cold and falling snow, with the outside temperature at around minus 10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit).They appeared in good shape, with the American and the Japanese astronauts smiling for the cameras and the officials who greeted them.

The Russian cosmonaut Malenchenko said the return to Earth had gone "admirably" well in reply to a journalist who asked him to say a few words. Malenchenko, 50, had just completed his fifth space mission, while the other two had been on their second mission. The team were then taken to a tent set up nearby to undergo medical tests.

A sign that read "Landing place of space vessel Soyuz TMA-05" was hammered into the ground by local officials. Three planes, 12 helicopters and six emergency vehicles were mobilised for the landing mission, RIA Novosti news agency reported."All the operations in leaving orbit and landing went smoothly. The crew members who returned to Earth are feeling well," the Russian mission control said in a statement.

The three ISS crew members had been on the space station since July. They will be replaced by a new team that blasts off December 19 in a Soyuz vessel from Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan. It will be made up of Russian Roman Romanenko, American Thomas Marshburn and Canadian Chris Hadfield.

For further information visit: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Three_ISS_crew_return_to_Earth_in_Russian_capsule_999.html