Three astronauts have returned to Earth after more than six months aboard the International Space Station (ISS). A Russian Soyuz capsule carrying Serena Aunon- Chancellor of NASA, Sergey Prokopyev from Russia and German astronaut Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency landed on the snow-covered steppes in Kazakhstan.

The crew said that they were feeling fine. Russian rescue teams in helicopters and all-terrain vehicles rushed to the landing site to extract the astronauts from the capsule charred by a fiery ride through the atmosphere.

The trio has spent 197 days in space. It was the first mission for Aunon-Chancellor and Prokopyev, while Gerst flew his second to a total of 362 days in orbit, setting the ESA's flight duration record.