{{A Soyuz space capsule with a three-man crew returning from a five-month mission to the International Space Station landed safely Tuesday on the steppes of Kazakhstan.}}<\/p>\n
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, American Thomas Marshburn and Russian Roman Romanenko landed as planned southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan at 8:31 a.m. local time Tuesday (0231 GMT; 10:31 p.m. EDT Monday).<\/p>\n
Live footage on NASA TV showed the Soyuz TMA-07M capsule slowly descending by parachute onto the sun-drenched steppes under clear skies. <\/p>\n
Russian search and rescue helicopters hovered over the landing site for a quick recovery effort.<\/p>\n
Rescue teams moved quickly to help the crew in their bulky spacesuits exit out of the capsule, charred by the fiery re-entry through the atmosphere. <\/p>\n
They were then put into reclining chairs to start adjusting to the Earth’s gravity after 146 days in space.<\/p>\n
The three astronauts smiled as they chatted with space agency officials and doctors who were checking their condition. Hadfield, who served as the space station’s commander, gave a thumbs-up sign. <\/p>\n
They made quick phone calls to family members and friends before being carried to a medical tent for a routine medical check-up prior to being flown home.<\/p>\n
Hadfield, 53, an engineer and former test pilot from Milton, Ontario, was Canada’s first professional astronaut to live aboard the space station and became the first Canadian in charge of a spacecraft. He relinquished command of the space station on Sunday.<\/p>\n
“It’s just been an extremely fulfilling and amazing experience end to end,” Hadfield told Mission Control on Monday. <\/p>\n
“From this Canadian to all the rest of them, I offer an enormous debt of thanks.” He was referring to all those in the Canadian Space Agency who helped make his flight possible.<\/p>\n
Hadfield bowed out of orbit by posting a music video on YouTube on Sunday \u2014 his own custom version of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.” It’s believed to be the first music video made in space, according to NASA.<\/p>\n
“With deference to the genius of David Bowie, here’s Space Oddity, recorded on Station. A last glimpse of the World,” Hadfield said via Twitter.<\/p>\n
Hadfield sang often in orbit, using a guitar already aboard the complex, and even took part in a live, Canadian coast-to-coast concert in February that included the Barenaked Ladies’ Ed Robertson and a youth choir.<\/p>\n
The five-minute video posted Sunday drew a salute from Bowie’s official Facebook page: “It’s possibly the most poignant version of the song ever created.”<\/p>\n
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