Sergei Ilnitsky / EPA

Support vehicles surround the landed Russian Soyuz TMA-21 space capsule after it touched down about 150 km south-east of the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, on Sept. 16.

Bill Ingalls / NASA via EPA

Expedition 28 Commander Andrey Borisenko (L), Flight Engineers Alexander Samokutyaev (C) and Ron Garan (R), sit in chairs outside the Soyuz Capsule just minutes after they landed.

Sergei Ilnitsky / EPA

Russian specialists carry NASA astronaut Ron Garan after the landing.

msnbc.com staff and news services report from CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.:

Three astronauts returned safely to Earth from the International Space Station on Friday, while their replacements found out how much longer they'll have to wait before their own space trip.

NASA astronaut Ron Garan and Russian cosmonauts Andrey Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyaev rode a Russian Soyuz spacecraft down to the steppes of Kazakhstan just before 10 a.m. local time (midnight ET), finishing up their five-month space mission.

The only glitch experienced during the descent was a period of spotty air-to-ground communications that built up some suspense about the crew's condition. Continue reading.