Three astronauts return to Earth from space station

Washington, Dec 14 ( IANS) Three astronauts landed in Kazakhstan on Thursday after spending nearly five months at the International Space Station.

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying Expedition 53 crewmates Randy Bresnik of NASA, Paolo Nespoli of European Space Agency (ESA) and Sergey Ryazanskiy of Roscosmos landed at 2.37 p.m. Kazakhstan time, NASA said.

During his time aboard the orbital complex, Bresnik ventured outside the space station for three spacewalks.

Along with NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Joe Acaba, Bresnik lead a trio of spacewalks to replace one of two latching end effectors on the station's robotic arm, Canadarm2.

They also lubricated the newly replaced Canadarm2 end effector and replaced cameras on the left side of the station's truss and the right side of the station's US Destiny laboratory.

Ryazanskiy conducted one spacewalk with fellow cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin in August to deploy several nanosatellites, collect research samples and perform structural maintenance.

Bresnik now has spent 150 days in space on two flights. Ryazanskiy now has 306 days in space on two flights. Nespoli has logged 313 days in space on his three flights.

The Expedition 54 crew continues operating the station, with Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos in command.

The three-person crew will operate the station until the arrival of three new crew members on December 19, NASA said.

--IANS

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