The Soyuz spacecraft brought three astronauts back to Earth

The Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft (Russia) brought three astronauts back to Earth - safely landed in the prairies of southern Kazakhstan at 8: 17 minutes GMT on July 1, RIA Novosti (Russia) reported.

>>>Three astronauts from ISS to earth safely

Three astronauts return to Earth safely - (Photo: RIA Novosti)

It is the Russian astronaut Oleg Kononenko, astronaut of the American Space Agency Don Pettit and astronaut at the European Space Agency (ESA) Andre Kuipers. They spent 193 working days on the International Space Station (ISS).

Astronaut Kononenko was the first person to be removed from the 'landing' module, he looked pale and tired, but the medical staff announced he was fine. Meanwhile, astronaut Pettit said: 'It's great to be back home now'.

During their stay in ISS, they conducted a space walk and performed over 30 scientific studies.

Soyuz TMA-03M (Russia) returned to Earth safely - (Photo: NASA, Bill Ingalls)

According to RIA Novosti, three other astronauts, Gennady Padalka, Sergei Revin (Russia) and Joe Acaba (NASA), will remain in ISS.

Also expected on July 15, three other astronauts, Suni Williams (NASA), Yury Malenchenko (Russia) and Aki Hoshide (Japan) will be brought by Soyuz spacecraft TMA-05M to ISS to replace Three astronauts have just returned to Earth on July 1.