The Soyuz spacecraft carrying two Russians and an American from the International Space Station touched down in Kazakhstan on September 23, ending the record stay of two Russians in space.
Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub returned to Earth after spending 374 days on the International Space Station. On Friday they broke the record for the longest stay at the station. The American, Tracy Dyson, who stayed in the space station for six months, also returned to Earth.
Eight astronauts remain on the Space Station, including Americans Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who were due to return to Earth long ago.
The American pair went to the International Space Station in June as the first crew of Boeing's new Starliner spacecraft. But their trip to space ran into problems due to a helium leak, and the US space agency, NASA, decided it was too dangerous for them to return to Earth on the Starliner spacecraft.
The two astronauts are expected to return to Earth next year on a SpaceX spacecraft./REL
