Astronauts return after 115-day mission on International Space Station

US astronaut Kate Rubins, Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin, and Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi rest in chairs outside the Soyuz MS space capsule after they landed in a remote area some 150 km southeast of Dzhezkazgan, in Kazakhstan, on October 30, 2016. / AFP / POOL / Dmitri Lovetsky DMITRI LOVETSKY/AFP/Getty Images

THREE astronauts from the US, Japan and Russia have returned to Earth after a 115-day mission on board the International Space Station.

A Russian Soyuz space capsule carrying NASA’s Kate Rubins, Japan’s Takuya Onisihi and Russian Anatoly Ivanishin landed in a remote region near Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan on Sunday morning.

Their journey home from space took around three-and-a-half hours from undocking until landing.

The craft landed upright allowing the astronauts to be removed from the capsule fairly swiftly.

They sat on the treeless Central Asian steppes as they readjusted to the forces of gravity after nearly four months in weightless conditions.

They were then taken to a nearby medical tent for initial examination.

Molecular biologist Rubins and Onishi were both returning from their first missions in space, while flight commander Ivanishin undertook a five-month mission at the ISS five years ago.

“Everybody is feeling wonderful,” said Ivanishin, who emerged first from the craft.

Their journey back to Earth marks the first complete mission to and from the orbital lab for a new generation of Soyuz spacecraft with upgraded features.