Special Report: Russian manned spaceship returns

Related: Space station crew, Brazilian astronaut head home

Brazilian astronaut Marcus Pontes walks out of the Soyuz capsule after landing near the town of Arkalyk in northern Kazakhstan pre-dawn April 9, 2006. (Xinhua photo)

The International Space Station (ISS) crew of U.S. astronaut William McArthur (R), Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev (C) and Brazil's first astronaut Marcos Pontes rest after landing near the town of Arkalyk in northern Kazakhstan pre-dawn April 9, 2006.  (Xinhua photo)

    MOSCOW, April 9 (Xinhua) -- A Russian spaceship carrying the outgoing crew of the International Space Station (ISS) and a Brazilian astronaut landed in northern Kazakhstan early on Sunday, hours after it undocked with the station.

    The Soyuz capsule with Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev, U.S. astronaut William McArthur and Brazilian astronaut Marcus Pontes onboard touched down on schedule at 03:47 Moscow time (2347 GMT Saturday) about 50 km northeast of the town of Arkalyk, the Mission Control outside Moscow said.

    During radio contact with the Mission Control, the astronauts reported the descent was normal and they were feeling well.

    The capsule was discovered by search teams soon after its landing and, once out of the capsule, the astronauts were covered with blankets and served with hot tea to keep warm. They underwent medical checkup at the landing site and are due to be flown to Moscow later in the day.

    Tokarev and McArthur had been keeping the ISS ticking over for about six months. Pontes, Brazil's first astronaut who arrived at the station on April 1 along with a new ISS crew, carried out a series of scientific experiments during his nine-day stay on the orbiting laboratory.

    Tokarev and McArthur were replaced by Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov, U.S. astronaut Jeffrey Williams, who are expected to make four spacewalks and conduct about 50 experiments during their mission onboard the ISS.

    Russia's space program has been the space station's lifeline for three years since U.S. space shuttle Columbia disintegrated returning to Earth in February 2003, which prompted the grounding of all U.S. space shuttles.

    U.S. shuttle Discovery briefly visited the station in July 2005,but problems with the insulation foam forced U.S. space agency NASA to ground the shuttle fleet one more time.

    NASA decided last month to postpone the launch of Discovery, originally scheduled for May 10, to at least July. A malfunctioning fuel tank sensor was said to have caused the delay.

    The next opportunity to launch Discovery to the ISS will be between July 1 and 19. The postponement could further delay the multinational orbital construction of the space station, which depends on U.S. space shuttles. Enditem