A veteran Russian cosmonaut and two International Space Station crewmates, one from the United States and one from Germany, returned safely to Earth this morning at 3:58am GMT (10:58pm EST). The parachute landing of their Soyuz capsule in Kazakhstan ended five and a half months in orbit aboard the International Space Station. Maxim Suraev of the Russian space agency, who was commander of the station during the mission, climbed into the Soyuz craft with Nasa astronaut Reid Wiseman and German flight engineer Alexander Gerst from the European Space Agency and departed the orbital outpost last night. Scroll down for video of landing
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Three crew members have safely landed in Kazakhstan after a three and a half hour journey from the ISS
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They departed the station in a Soyuz capsule on Sunday evening and returned early this morning
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Maxim Suraev, Reid Wiseman and Alexander Gerst were the three to depart the station
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They travelled in the same Soyuz that took them to the ISS on 28 May this year
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The ISS has been permanently staffed since the first crew arrived on 2 November 2000
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Three crewmembers remain on the ISS, with another three set to join later this month
Having completed his second space station mission, @placeholder now has spent 334 days in space.