Malaysian astronaut Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor (C) gets off a helicopter in the northern Kazakh town of Kustanay after landing in the Kazakhstan steppe on board a Soyuz space capsule Oct. 21, 2007. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    MOSCOW, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Space capsule with three cosmonauts aboard landed in a Central Asia steppe on Sunday, news agencies reported.

    After the descent capsule touched down, Fedor Yurchikhin, Oleg Kotov and Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, the first Malaysian cosmonaut, from the International Space Station (ISS) were removed from the vessel by the rescue team.

    It is not yet known why the capsule declined in an unusual orbit and landed 200 km away from the planned landing area in Kazakhstan.

    Russian control center experts said the unusual descent was a rare case. The same thing happened once in 2003 when there was a problem aboard the Soyuz TMA-1 with an ISS crew member aboard.