In pictures: returning back to Earth from space

Three astronauts including Briton Tim Peake landed back on Earth Saturday after completing a six-month mission on the International Space Station (ISS).

A Russian Mi-8 helicopter is seen before a flight to the landing area of the Soyuz TMA-19M capsule carrying International Space Station (ISS) crew members

 

 

Peake, the first British astronaut on the ISS, Russia's Yury Malenchenko and NASA's Tim Kopra parachuted down onto the Kazakh steppe in their Soyuz capsule at 0915 GMT after spending 186 days in orbit

 

 

The Soyuz TMA-19M capsule descended beneath a parachute and landed near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan

 

 

 

 

Members of a search and rescue team worked at the site of landing of the Soyuz TMA-19M capsule carrying the International Space Station (ISS) crew members

 

 

 

 

Ground personnel carried International Space Station (ISS) crew member Yuri Malenchenko of Russia shortly after landing near the town of Zhezkazgan

 

 

Crew member Tim Kopra of the US flashed  a thumbs-up sign as ground personnel carried him shortly after landing

 

 

International Space Station (ISS) crew member Tim Peake of Britain also looked delighted to be back 

 

 

From left, the International Space Station (ISS) crew members Tim Peake of Britain, Yuri Malenchenko of Russia and Tim Kopra of the U.S. rest in chairs shortly after landing

 

 

Here, Britain's Tim Peake is assisted by ground personnel as he walks out of a helicopter upon his arrival at the airport of Karaganda, Kazakhstan

 

 

 

 

 

The ISS crew members Tim Peake of Britain, Yuri Malenchenko of Russia and Timothy Kopra of the US received flowers during a welcoming ceremony at the airport of Karaganda, Kazakhstan

 

 

Peake, Malenchenko and Kopra had blasted off into space from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in December.

At around 0215 GMT, they bid farewell to NASA astronaut Jeff Williams and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin, who remain aboard the ISS.

 

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