Soyuz capsule returns from space station

NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy (L), and Russian cosmonauts Commander Pavel Vinogradov (C) and Flight Engineer Alexander Misurkin sit in chairs outside the Soyuz TMA-08M capsule just minutes after they landed in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, in this handout photo dated September 11, 2013. Vinogradov, Misurkin and Cassidy returned to Earth after five and a half months on the International Space Station. [Photo/Agencies]

MOSCOW - A Soyuz capsule carrying three astronauts has touched down on Earth after undocking from the International Space Station after 166 days in space.

NASA's Chris Cassidy and Russians Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin landed safely in Kazakhstan, where they launched on March 29.

Live NASA footage showed the three men emerging from the capsule and onto the sunny Kazakh steppe, where they will first be put into reclining chairs that will help them readjust to the earth's gravity.

The Soyuz is the only means for international astronauts to reach the orbiting laboratory since the decommissioning of the U.S. shuttle fleet in 2011.