WASHINGTON: A three-man multinational crew of astronauts returned to Earth on Monday aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, after spending 165 days working together at the International Space Station, Nasa said.

ISS commander, Russia’s Maxim Surayev, his American colleague Reid Wiseman and German Alexander Gerst from the European Space Agency touched down at 10:58pm on Sunday. The three men smiled broadly from reclining chairs as medical personnel tended to them amid patches of snow on the barren steppe just northeast of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, where they landed.

Surayev flashed a V for victory sign while Wiseman pumped his fist as they waited to regain their land legs after nearly half a year of weightlessness.

“Everything was in the spirit of cooperation, so I think that everybody needs to learn and follow the example of the ISS crew members,” Surayev said.

“Let’s try to live together side by side. This is the most important thing,” he added.

While in space the crew travelled more than 70 million miles, Nasa said.

The “bulls-eye” touchdown was executed amid low clouds and fog “following a flawless descent back into the atmosphere,” according to Nasa TV.

The spacecraft was pulled onto its side by its parachute upon arrival, which Nasa TV added was not uncommon.

The US space agency said the “departure of Wiseman, Gerst and Surayev marks the end of Expedition 41,” referring to their mission to the ISS to carry out equipment repairs, maintenance and experiments.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2014