A U.S.-Russian space crew landed safely in the steppes of Kazakhstan on Sunday after an eight-month stint on the International Space Station.

International Cooperation in Space Exploration

NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Russian crewmates Sergei Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev touched down in their Soyuz MS-28 that landed smoothly by parachute in a designated area southeast of Dzhezkazgan.

Their 241-day stint on the orbiting outpost was the first space mission for Williams and Mikaev and the second for Kud-Sverchkov.

The crew will be flown by helicopter to Karaganda, where Williams will board a plane to return to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, while Kud-Sverchkov and Mikaev will take a flight to their training base in Star City, just outside Moscow.

Once bitter rivals in the space race during the Cold War, Russia and the U.S. cooperate on the space station and other projects.

Original reporting: WTVQ (Lexington) — read the source article.