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2 record-breaking Russians and an American who lived on space station for 6 months return to Earth

In this photo released by Roscosmos space corporation, the Soyuz 2.1a rocket with Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft to the International Space Station, ISS, lifts off from the Russian-leased Baikonur launch facility in Kazakhstan, Saturday, March 23, 2024. (Roscosmos space corporation via AP) In this photo released by Roscosmos space corporation, the Soyuz 2.1a rocket with Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft to the International Space Station, ISS, lifts off from the Russian-leased Baikonur launch facility in Kazakhstan, Saturday, March 23, 2024. (Roscosmos space corporation via AP)
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MOSCOW -

A Soyuz capsule carrying two Russians and one American from the International Space Station landed Monday in Kazakhstan, ending a record-breaking stay for the Russian pair.

The capsule landed on the Kazakh steppe about 3 1/2 hours after undocking from the space station in an apparently trouble-free descent. In the last stage of the landing, it descended under a red-and-white parachute at about 7.2 metres per second (16 mph), with small rockets fired in the final seconds to cushion the touchdown.

The astronauts were to be extracted from the capsule and placed in nearby chairs to help them adjust to gravity, then given medical examinations in a nearby tent.

Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub returned after 374 days aboard the space station; on Friday they broke the record for the longest continuous stay there. Also in the capsule was American Tracy Dyson, who was in the space station for six months.

Eight astronauts remain in the space station, including Americans Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have remained long past their scheduled return to Earth.

They arrived in June as the first crew of Boeing's new Starliner capsule. But their trip was marred by thruster troubles and helium leaks, and the U.S. space agency NASA decided it was too risky to return them on Starliner.

The two astronauts will ride home with SpaceX next year.

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