Astronauts land safely back on Earth from Space Station

Credit: NASA

Three astronauts landed safely back on Earth on Friday after spending 141 days in the International Space Station, NASA said.

Expedition 45 crew members Kjell Lindgren of NASA, Oleg Kononenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency and Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency landed in Kazakhstan in the Soyuz TMA-17M capsule that carried them back to Earth.

Expedition 45 crew members Kjell Lindgren of NASA, Oleg Kononenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency and Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency settle into the Soyuz TMA-17M spacecraft that carried them safely back to Earth. Credit: NASA

A video released by NASA showed the astronauts enter the Soyuz TMA-17M capsule and Russian Sergei Volkov, on board the International Space Station who is due to return to Earth in March, is heard wishing his fellow cosmonaut Kononenko well.

"Have a good stay, don't miss us too much, we'll see you in March," he said. "Thank you for working together."

After arrival, the crew were assisted into reclining chairs by Russian, U.S. and European personnel to begin their adaptation to gravity after being extracted from their spacecraft.

British astronaut Tim Peake, American Tim Kopra and Russian Yuri Malenchenko, will blast off from Kazakhstan on Tuesday to join Scott Kelly and Russians Sergei Volkov and Mikhail Kornienko in the Space Station on Tuesday.