International Space Station crew lands safely

MOSCOW – Astronauts from Canada and Belgium and a Russian cosmonaut landed safely on the Kazakhstan steppe on Tuesday, wrapping up a six-month stint on the International Space Station.

The Russian Soyuz TMA-15 capsule carrying Canadian astronaut Bob Thirsk, Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, and Belgium's Frank De Winne touched down without a hitch near the town of Arkalyk in Kazakhstan's barren north, Russian Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin said.

Parachutes slowed the craft to a soft touchdown at 10:15 a.m. Moscow time (0715 GMT), as scheduled.

Russian medical teams arrived in all-terrain vehicles to help the crew out of the capsule, in a carefully choreographed recovery operation. The crew is to be flown to Moscow later in the day.

Russian Federal Space Agency chief Anatoly Perminov said at a briefing that all three were in good condition.

The trio blasted off to the International Space Station on May 27. Their arrival marked the doubling of the station's permanent crew to six people.

The expedition was also a milestone for the Canadian space program, marking the first time a Canadian has taken part in a long-term mission.