Three space station astronauts safely return to Earth: NASA

Moscow: NASA says a three-person crew from the International Space Station has landed safely in Kazakhstan.

NASA's Kjell Lindgren, Russia's Oleg Kononenko and Kimiya Yui of Japan returned to Earth today in their Soyuz TMA-17M capsule after 141 days in space. They touched down on schedule northeast of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan.

Kononenko reported to the Russian Mission Control that the crew was feeling fine as the capsule was descending on parachute before landing softly in darkness in the wind-swept snowy steppes.

Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly of NASA, along with crewmates Mikhail Kornienko and Sergey Volkov of Roscosmos remain on the station.

They will be joined by three new crew members next Tuesday. Kelly and Kornienko are on the first joint US-Russian one-year mission.