Russian, U.S. ISS space travellers return to Earth

Their stint at the station creates record

A record-breaking U.S. astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts returned to Earth from the International Space Station on Wednesday, with tensions between Moscow and the West soaring over Ukraine.

"The crew of Roscosmos cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov, as well as NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, has returned to Earth," Russia's space agency Roscosmos said in a statement.

Footage broadcast from the landing site in Kazakhstan showed the Soyuz descent module touching down at the expected time of 1658 IMT in bright conditions before the crew emerged from the vehicle that had blown onto its side.

"Tasty!" said Mr. Shkaplerov, the first man out of the descent module, as he sat sipping a tea provided by recovery staff.

NASA's Mark Vande Hei emerged from the vehicle last, after setting a new record for the single longest spaceflight by a NASA astronaut, clocking 355 days aboard the International Space Station.

Cosmonaut Dubrov, with whom he blasted off from Baikonur in April last year, now holds the record for the longest mission by a Russian at the ISS, although four cosmonauts clocked longer stints at the now-defunct Mir space station, which was the world's first continuously inhabited orbital lab.

Mr. Shkaplerov was rounding off a standard six-month mission.