Welcome to Earth: crew lands safely

A Russian Soyuz capsule bumped down on the Kazakh steppe early on Monday, bringing three astronauts ? a Russian, an American and an Italian ? safely back to Earth from the International Space Station.

A Russian Soyuz capsule bumped down on the Kazakh steppe early on Monday, bringing three astronauts — a Russian, an American and an Italian — safely back to Earth from the International Space Station. The landing, two hours before daybreak, was complicated by flooding on the steppe.

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Just three of 10 search and recovery helicopters were able to land in the waterlogged conditions, following weeks of heavy snow and rain, to extract the space crew.

Mission control outside Moscow said there had been no major problems. “Everything went as planned. The Soyuz TMA-5 landed on its side,” a spokesman was quoted as saying by the Itar-Tass news agency. The craft touched down near Arkalyk in northern Kazakhstan at 2:08 am Moscow time.

The landing involved the cramped Soyuz capsule unfurling a large orange parachute after entering the atmosphere and firing a final burst of rockets to dampen the impact as it landed on the steppe.

Russian Salizhan Sharipov and American Leroy Chiao, who manned the station since last October, returned with Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori, who spent 10 days in space, having accompanied the two-man crew that relieved Sharipov and Chiao.