A trio of International Space Station crew members returned to Earth and landed in Kazakhstan at 10:23 p.m. EDT on Sept. 10, 2014 (8:23 a.m., Sept. 11, in local time) after spending 167 days aboard the orbital laboratory. Seen left to right, Oleg Artemyev and Alexander Skvortsov of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and NASA’s Steve Swanson were examined by medical personnel after being removed from their Russian Soyuz spacecraft. (Image Credit: NASA Television)

DZHEZKAZGAN, Kazakhstan, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- After 169 days aboard the International Space Station, the crew of Expedition 40 have touched down in a remote area of Kazakhstan.

The men touched down at 8:23 a.m. in Dzhezkazgan.


The Expedition 40 crew consisted of Expedition 40 Commander Steve Swanson of NASA and Flight Engineers Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev of the Russian Federal Space Agency.

One of the key areas of research during their time aboard the ISS was human health management during long duration space travel as the two agencies prepare for two crew members to spend a full year aboard the orbiting lab next year.

While in space, the men orbited the Earth more than 2,700 times and traveled almost 72 million miles.