Landing in the steppe

Three ISS astronauts safely back on Earth

(Bild: Russian Space Agency Roscosmos)

US astronaut Tracy Dyson and her two Russian colleagues Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub returned to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday. The three space travelers landed in the Kazakh steppe at around 5 p.m. local time (1 p.m. CEST).

Kononenko had handed over command of the ISS to the US-American Suni Williams before their departure. Despite global political tensions, Russia and the USA continue to work together on the ISS.

The Soyuz capsule shortly before touchdown in the steppe in Kazakhstan(Bild: Russian Space Agency Roscosmos)

Kononenko and Chub also broke an ISS record on Friday - they spent the longest time on the human outpost at more than 370 days. The two cosmonauts arrived there on September 15 last year.

The Soyuz capsule with the three astronauts shortly after undocking from the ISS space station(Bild: kameraOne (Screenshot))

Russian in space for more than 1000 days
Kononenko broke another record during his stay in space: As it was already his fifth space mission, the 60-year-old has now spent more time in space in total than anyone else. He is the only person so far to have spent more than .000 days in space.

For the US-American Dyson, it was the third flight into space. For the current mission, she has been on the International Space Station since March - more than 180 days.