US, Russian trio return from space station

Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner and American astronaut Chris Cassidy have landed safely on Earth after spending half a year on the International Space Station.

The trio landed in a Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft on Thursday in a remote town in Kazakhstan, NASA said in a tweet.

The 402km journey back to earth took about three hours and 20 minutes.

Their return marks the end of a 196-day mission. Over that time the ISS orbited Earth 3136 times and covered more than 133 million kilometres.

Ivanishin is a seasoned space traveller - over three flights he has spent 476 days in space.

While it was Vagner's first flight, expedition commander Cassidy has spent a total of 378 days in space.

In November, four new guests will be sent to the station on a rocket launched by private space company SpaceX.