This story was updated at 5:03 a.m. ET. <\/p>\n
After half a year living on the International Space Station, three astronauts safely returned to Earth Sunday (July 1) aboard a Russian-built space capsule. <\/p>\n
The Soyuz spacecraft landed on Central Asian steppes of Kazakhstan at 4:14 a.m. EDT (0414 GMT) to return NASA astronaut Don Pettit, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers back to their home planet. <\/p>\n
\"Everything is good, we feel great,\" Kononenko radioed Russia's Mission Control Center just before landing. <\/p>\n
HSW: How Space Stations Work <\/p>\n
The spaceflyers had undocked from the space station several hours earlier in theirRussian-built Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraftto begin the journey home. They landed upright under a blue sky dotted with some white clouds in Kazakhstan, where the local time was Sunday afternoon. <\/p>\n
Pettit, Kononenko and Kuipers arrived at the orbiting outpost in December 2011. All three had flown previousmissions to the space station, making them a crew of veteran spaceflyers. <\/p>\n
In a blog post describing his final day in space, Pettit reflected on the impact of his months-long mission, and encouraged humanity to keep pushing the boundaries of space exploration. <\/p>\n
\"On Earth, the frontiers opened slowly,\" Pettit wrote. \"The technology of sailing was known and advanced for over a thousand years before the Earth was circumnavigated. Such bold acts require the technology, the will, and the audacity to explore. Sometimes you have one, but not the others. I only hope that my small efforts here, perhaps adding one grain of sand to the beach of knowledge, will help enable a generation of people in the future to call space 'home.'\" (Landing Photos: Soyuz Capsule Returns 3 Astronauts Home) <\/p>\n
Throughout their mission, Pettit and Kuipers shared with the public stunning photos of the Earth from space through Twitter and the photo sharing flight Flickr. Pettit also regularly updated a blog about his experiences on the space station, which included severalpoems in tribute to life in space. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The rest is here: <\/p>\n
Space Station Astronauts Safely Return to Earth<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This story was updated at 5:03 a.m. ET Continue reading