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Summary A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying a US-Russian trio of astronauts landed safely in Kazakhstan.
The spacecraft was landed after staying for months on the $100-billion USD International Space Station (ISS). The Soyuz TMA-01M capsule touched down in snowy Kazakhstan about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of the town of Arkalyk at about 3:54 am EDT (0754 GMT), though it was just before 2 pm local time at their landing site.Onboard the Soyuz were the space stations Expedition 26 commander Scott Kelly of NASA and Russian flight engineers Oleg Skripochka and Alexander Kaleri. They landed under harsh conditions, with ankle-deep snow and 30-knot winds reported by recovery crews.The Soyuz cosmonauts and astronaut appeared to be in good shape and good spirits as recovery teams helped them out of the space capsule. The crew was to be whisked into trucks and then helicopters to begin the trip home in order to limit their exposure to the harsh winter cold.
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