Updated at 10:45 p.m. EST

Three station fliers strapped into their Soyuz TMA-09M ferry craft, undocked from the International Space Station and plunged back to Earth Sunday, settling to a jarring rocket-assisted landing on the frigid steppe of Kazakhstan to close out a 166-day stay in space.

Packed safely away in the Soyuz spacecraft was an Olympic torch that was launched last Wednesday with another three-person crew and carried outside the station Saturday for a dramatic spacewalk photo op. Olympic organizers plan to use the torch in the opening ceremonies of the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

Within minutes of touchdown, Russian recovery crews converged on the spacecraft to help the returning station crew out of the cramped descent module for initial medical checks and satellite phone calls to friends and family back home. The Olympic torch also was pulled from the capsule and shown on live television from the landing site.

The Soyuz descent module ended up on its side, but commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, European Space Agency flight engineer Luca Parmitano and NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg appeared in good health as they relaxed in nearby recliners, covered by blankets to ward off sub-freezing temperatures.

Yurchikhin held the Olympic torch throughout the initial recovery operation, posing for photographers and carefully waving it about.

The trip home began at 6:26 p.m. EST when the Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft undocked from the aft port of the space station's Zvezda command module. Yurchikhin monitored the undocking from the cockpit's center seat, flanked on the left by Parmitano and on the right by Nyberg.

"We are feeling the separation," Yurchikhin radioed as springs in the docking mechanism pushed the Soyuz away.

"Have a good flight," someone called.

"Thank you, thank you all."

Original post:

Soyuz spacecraft undocks from International Space Station