Russian Soyuz Spacecraft Lands With Two Space Station Crewmates

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft landed on the north-central steppes of Kazakhstan today, bringing a Russian cosmonaut and an American astronauts back to Earth after 169 days in space -- 167 of which were spent at the International Space Station.

Touch down came at 7:24 a.m. EDT.

Search-and-recovery forces reported that soft-landing rockets ignited on time and brought the Soyuz to terra firma. Winds gusting to 17 mph tipped the spacecraft over on its side, which is not unusual. Helicopters are on their way to the craft and Russian cosmonaut Max Suraev and U.S. astronaut Jeffrey Williams soon will be extracted from the vehicle.

U.S. astronaut Timothy Creamer and Soichi Noguchi of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency watched NASA TV coverage of the landing on the International Space Station, where they remain with Russian comonaut Oleg Kotov. Kotov took command from Williams on Wednesday.