Soyuz landing: One small steppe for man...

Joseph Acaba, Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin tightly packed inside the capsule (REUTERS)

An international three-man crew onboard a Russian-made Soyuz capsule touched down successfully under clear skies on Kazakhstan's central steppe yesterday morning after 123 days at the International Space Station.

Nasa's Joe Acaba and Russian colleagues Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin undocked from the orbiting about three-and-a-half hours before touchdown.

The Soyuz craft remains the only means for international astronauts to reach the space station since the decommissioning of the US Shuttle fleet in last year.