Incredible moment three astronauts make fiery re-entry through Earth's atmosphere after 168 days in space

Ella Wills3 June 2018

This is the moment three astronauts landed safely back down on Earth after 168 days of living and working in space.

Remarkable footage showed the International Space Station (ISS) crew members making a fiery re-entry through the planet's atmosphere before parachuting down to a landing in Kazakhstan.

They touched down at around 8.40am Eastern Time (1.40pm BST) on Sunday, NASA said in a statement.

NASA's Scott Tingle, Norishe Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos completed hundreds of experiments during their time on the ISS.

The astronauts covered 71.2 million miles over more than 2,600 orbits of the Earth.

The International Space Station crew landed in Kazakhstan on Sunday
NASA

The group closed the hatch to their Soyuz spacecraft earlier on Sunday and undocked from the space station, before igniting its engines to begin their three-hour journey home.

Cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos after landing back on Earth
NASA

After shedding unnecessary hardware, the spacecraft re-entered the Earth's atmosphere with a parachute slowing it down as it got closer to the ground.

The departure and landing was streamed live on NASA's website.

The mission was the first for Mr Tingle and Mr Kanai, who both ventured on separate spacewalks outside the station.

Mr Shkaplerov conducted a record-breaking spacewalk in February of eight hours and 13 minutes.

The crew have left to make way for another three astronauts who will launch to the ISS on June 6.

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