<p><br /> Three astronauts that oversaw the final assembly stages of the International Space Station (ISS) have landed safely in Kazakhstan.<br /> </p><p><br /> Russian Oleg Kotov, NASA's Timothy Creamer and Japan's Soichi Noguchi touched down near the town of Zhezkazgan.<br /> </p><p><br /> The crew left Earth in December to conduct a series of experiments and complete the station which has been under construction for over a decade.<br /> </p><p><br /> Russia will ferry all crews to the ISS aboard its single-use Soyuz spaceships after the US space agency NASA mothballs its shuttle fleet by the end of the year.<br /> </p><p><br /> Earlier this year, Russia announced a halt to space tourism to free capacity for ISS flights.<br /> </p><p><br /> They plan to double the number of launches to four this year as permanent crews of professionals aboard the expanded ISS are set to rise to six.<br /> </p>
