A Russian manned spacecraft returned to Earth and landed in the central steppes of Kazakhstan early Friday safely, said the Mission Control outside Moscow.

The International Space Station (ISS) crew of Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin (C) and U.S. astronauts Doug Wheelock (L) and Shannon Walker rest after landing in their Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft near the town of Arkalyk in northern Kazakhstan November 26, 2010. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

The space capsule carrying the 25th ISS crew landed as expected at around 07:46 a.m. Moscow time (0446 GMT) in northern Kazakhstan, some 84 km away from the Arkalyk city.

On board the spacecraft were U.S. and Russian astronauts Doug Wheelock, Shannon Walker and Fyodor Yurchikhin, who all finished a five-month tour to the space station starting from June.

Their return, initially planned for Nov. 30, had been advanced four days ahead of schedule due to the upcoming summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on Dec. 1-2, according to Russia's federal space agency Roscosmos.

The Kazakh authorities decided to rearrange the date as world leaders will start arriving at Astana late November and the airspace will be tightly controlled.

The three astronauts took a long sleep for both physical and psychological recuperation on Thursday, from 02:30 a.m. to 05:00 p.m. Moscow time (from 2330 GMT Wednesday to 1400 GMT), the day that traditionally marks the U.S. Thanksgiving Day.

Remaining at the space outpost were another three astronauts, American Scott Kelly and two Russians, Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka.

The ISS crew will retain its full capacity of six astronauts when the Soyuz TMA-20 spaceship arrives in next month.

The Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft was scheduled to blast off from the Kazakh Baikonur space center on Dec. 15, carrying another three crew members of the expedition to the space.

Also on Thursday, the ISS has been moved up 1.7 km to a higher orbit for a betting docking of the next manned spaceship.

The TMA-19 mission was the 106th flight of a Soyuz spacecraft since the start of the program in 1967.

In total, Yurchikhin has 371 days in space, and Wheelock 178 days. For the 45-year-old female NASA astronaut Walker, it was 163 days for her maiden space voyage.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet