Three ISS Crew Land Safely Back On Earth

NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy (left), and Russian cosmonauts Commander Pavel Vinogradov (center) and Flight Engineer Aleksander Misurkin sit in chairs outside the Soyuz TMA-08M capsule just minutes after they landed Kazakhstan on September 11.

Two Russian cosmonauts and a U.S. astronaut have arrived safely back on Earth after a 166-day mission on the International Space Station.

Outgoing station commander Pavel Vinogradov, NASA astronaut Christopher Cassidy, and Russian cosmonaut Aleksander Misurkin landed in Kazakhstan early on September 11 aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule.

Before leaving, Vinogradov, a veteran of three spaceflights, transferred command of the $100 billion station to fellow cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, who remains aboard with Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano and NASA's Karen Nyberg.

The space station has been continuously staffed by rotating crews of astronauts and cosmonauts since November 2000.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AFP, and ITAR-TASS