A Russian Soyuz capsule has landed on the Kazakh steppe, delivering a trio of astronauts returning from the International Space Station from a four-month stint on the International Space Station.
The Soyuz TMA-05M capsule, carrying Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and U.S. astronaut Sunita Williams, parachuted through dark, cloudy skies and touched down at 7:56 a.m. local time today.
The capsule landed near the northern Kazakh town of Arkalyk.
The crew returned after spending 125 days aboard the International Space Station, a 100 billion U.S. dollar research complex involving 15 countries and orbiting 240 miles (385 km) above Earth.