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The first crew to blast off to the International Space Station following a launch accident that deepened doubts over Russia's space programme returned to earth safely on June 25. NASA astronaut Anne McClain, veteran cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko of Roscosmos, and Canadian Space Agency record-holder David Saint-Jacques emerged from the space craft to applause from support crews, after touching down near the Kazakh city of Dzhezkazgan. (Reuters Photo)
Arriving to warm conditions, Oleg Kononenko of Roscosmos joked that he was "happy to see any kind of weather" after coming back from space. (Reuters Photo) 
A Russian Soyuz MS-11 space capsule descends about 150 km (90 miles) south east of the Kazakh town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan. (AP Photo) -
The trio's launch on December 3 was the first after a Soyuz rocket carrying Russia's Aleksey Ovchinin and US astronaut Nick Hague failed in October just minutes after blast-off, forcing the pair to make an emergency landing. (Reuters Photo)
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They escaped unharmed but the failed launch was the first such incident in Russia's post-Soviet history and a new setback for the country's once proud space industry. (Reuters Photo)
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NASA said earlier this month that it will be opening the ISS up to space tourists for the first time next year with 30-day visits expedited by SpaceX and Boeing expected to cost around $58 million per person. (Reuters Photo)
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Russia has flown seven tourists to the ISS but is set to increase that number beginning in 2021, according to Roscosmos, which struck a deal with American company Space Adventures earlier this year. (Reuters Photo)
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The Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft is seen as it lands with Expedition 59 crew members Anne McClain of NASA, David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency, and Oleg Kononenko of Roscosmos near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan. (Reuters Photo)
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A search and rescue team approaches the Soyuz MS-11 capsule shortly after the landing about 150 km (80 miles) south east of the Kazakh town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan. (AP Photo)
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McClain, Kononenko and Saint-Jacques had been optimistic ahead of their successful launch and remained upbeat throughout their time aboard the orbital lab which is seen as a rare example of cooperation between Russia and the West. (Reuters Photo)
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