spacetoday.net: Soyuz returns ISS crew members to Earth

Posted: Thu, Sep 11, 2014, 8:21 AM ET (1221 GMT)
Soyuz TMA-12M landing (NASA)

A Soyuz spacecraft carrying two Russian cosmonauts and one American astronaut landed safely in Kazakhstan early Thursday, ending a nearly six-month mission on the International Space Station. The Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft landed in the targeted landing zone on the Kazakh steppes at 10:23 pm EDT Wednesday (0223 GMT, 8:23 am local time Thursday). The spacecraft landed nearly three and a half hour after undocking from the ISS. On board the spacecraft were Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev and American astronaut Steve Swanson, who had spent 169 days in space. Three people remain on the ISS: NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Max Suraev. Two Russians and one American are slated to launch on a Soyuz on September 25 to join them.