Soyuz lands safely with three ISS crew members ending nearly six months in space

By Euronews

Published on 12/03/2015 - 04:45

A U.S. astronaut and two cosmonauts from Russia have returned to Earth after 167 days on board the International Space Station. Alexander

A U.S. astronaut and two cosmonauts from Russia have returned to Earth after 167 days on board the International Space Station.

Alexander Samokutyaev, Barry Wilmore and Yelena Serova touched down in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in snow -covered Kazakhstan,.

The landing took a while to confirm due to low cloud in the recovery area.

.ingallsimages</a> captured the money shot of today's Soyuz landing. Incredible! <a href="http://t.co/j9eYpVFJow">http://t.co/j9eYpVFJow</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ISS?src=hash">#ISS</a> <a href="http://t.co/9bU2cBrWJp">pic.twitter.com/9bU2cBrWJp</a></p>— ISS Updates (ISS101) March 12, 2015

For Wilmore and Samokutyaev it was the completion of their second space flight. Serova is the first Russian woman to have served on the ISS.

When the next crew heads for the orbiting outpost mission durations are to be doubled in an attempt to learn more about how the human body responds to even longer stays in space.

For now the station is left with a crew of three including Italian Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency.

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