Russia's Soyuz space capsule landed safely in the Kazakh steppe early Tuesday, returning three astronauts of the International Space Station to Earth after five months in space, DPA reported.
The capsule carrying US astronaut Catherine Coleman, Russian cosmonaut Dimitry Kondratyev and Italy's Paolo Nespoli touched ground at 8:27 am (0227 GMT), NASA said. Soyuz had undocked from the station five hours previously.
The three astronauts had launched from Baikonur in Kazakhstan on December 15 and spent 159 days in space.