After 172 days in space U.S. Russian crew lands in Kazakhstan read more at here www.spinonews.com/index.php/item/786-after-172-days-in-space-u-s-russian-crew-lands-in-kazakhstan

It was several minutes until NASA could confirm the landing at 7:13 a.m. local time on Wednesday (9:13 p.m. EDT on Tuesday/0113 GMT on Wednesday).

A U.S. astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts wrapped up a 172-day mission aboard the International Space Station with a parachute descent and landing at dawn on the steppes of Kazakhstan.

The capsule made a parachute down to southeast of Zhezkazgan, disappearing into a layer of dry grass fields as it neared the ground.

Station commander Jeff Williams with the U.S. space agency, and flight engineers Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka, both with Russia's Roscosmos agency, pulled away from the space station at 5:51 p.m. EDT/2151 GMT as the ships sailed 258 miles (415 km) over eastern Mongolia, said NASA mission commentator Rob Navias.

The mission comes the same day a U.S. space probe was cleared for launch on Thursday to collect and return samples from an asteroid in hopes of learning more about the origins of life on Earth and perhaps elsewhere in the solar system, NASA said.

Williams, 58, returns to Earth with a career total of 534 days in orbit, more time than any other astronaut in U.S. history and 14th in the world.

The Russians remain champions of long-duration spaceflight, with cosmonaut Gennady Padalka currently the world record-holder with 878 days in space over five missions.

Before leaving the station, Williams turned over command of the $100 billion outpost, a project of 15 nations, to cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin, who remains aboard the station with NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Japan's Takuya Onishi.

A replacement crew is due to launch on Sept. 23 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.