Article Posted on : - Sep 16, 2011

The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft is seen as it lands with Expedition 28 crew members in a remote area outside of the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, on Friday. A NASA photo

MOSCOW (BNS): Wrapping up their six month space mission, two Russian cosmonauts and a US astronaut landed safely on Earth early Friday morning.

The Russian Soyuz TMA-21 space capsule brought back the three-member crew by touching down in a remote area outside the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan at 11:59 am EDT (0359 GMT), NASA said.

The spacecraft had undocked from the International Space Station at 0038 GMT as scheduled.

The trio – Russia’s Andrey Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyaev, and NASA’s Ron Garan – had arrived at the International Space Station on April 6 on research and exploration mission.

They were originally scheduled to arrive on Earth on September 8, but the Soyuz landing was delayed following the crash of a Russian unmanned space freighter late last month. The abortive launch of the Progress transport ship on August 24 necessitated adjustments in the schedule.

Following the three-member crew’s return, the ISS is now manned by NASA’s Michael Fossum, Russia’s Sergei Volkov and Japan’s Satoshi Furukawa.

The next manned spaceship to the orbital station is scheduled to be launched by Russia on November 12.

“The launch date for the remaining Expedition 29 crew members, NASA’s Dan Burbank, and Russia’s Anatoly Ivanishin and Anton Shkaplerov, is under review,” NASA said.