Space station trio returns to Earth after 169 days

Last Updated Sep 11, 2014 10:30 AM EDT

Two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut strapped into a Soyuz ferry craft, undocked from the International Space Station and plunged back to Earth Wednesday, settling to a jarring, rocket-assisted landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan to close out a 169-day mission.

With commander Alexander Skvortsov at the controls, flanked on the left by flight engineer Oleg Artemyev and on the right by outgoing space station commander Steven Swanson, the Soyuz TMA-12M descent module landed on target near the town of Dzhezkazgan at 10:23 p.m. EDT (8:23 a.m. Thursday local time).

The final minutes of the return to Earth were seen on live television provided by recovery crews near the landing zone, showing the capsule descending through a cloudless, slightly hazy sky under a big orange-and-white parachute. The descent module landed just out of view over the horizon, its solid-fuel "soft landing" rockets kicking up billowing clouds of dust as they ignited an instant before touchdown.

"Touchdown confirmed," said NASA mission control commentator Rob Navias at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "Touchdown right on the button ... on the steppe of Kazakhstan. The Expedition 40 crew -- Steve Swanson of NASA and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev -- are home, back on Earth after 169 days in space."

As usual, Russian technicians, flight surgeons and a contingent of NASA support personnel were standing by near the landing site to help the returning fliers out of the cramped Soyuz capsule after five-and-a-half months in the weightlessness of low-Earth orbit.

The Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft descends to a landing in Kazakhstan Wednesday, three-and-a-half hours after undocking from the International Space Station.

NASA TV

After brief satellite phone calls to friends and family, all three were carried to a medical tent for more detailed exams before boarding helicopters for a flight to nearby Karaganda, where Kazakh officials planned a welcome home ceremony.

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Space station trio returns to Earth after 169 days