"The landing took place," said the center of Russian space flight control (TSOUP), located in Korolev, near Moscow, according to images broadcast live by the Russian channel Vesti 24.
Astronauts landed at 11:15, Moscow time (07:15 GMT) at 145 km northeast of Yezkazgan ", told AFP a TSOUP spokesman, Valery Lyndin.
"The landing took place as scheduled in automatic system, controlled from the TSOUP," he added.
Smiles and applause
Vesti 24 showed the American Michael Fincke, Russian Yuri Lonchakov and Simonyi smiling after they left the ship, sitting in the middle of the steppe, surrounded by doctors and members of the rescue forces.
"Hello, Earth!" Exclaimed the American Russian Fincke.
"All systems worked perfectly on the ship. The astronauts feel very good," said the director of the Russian space agency Roskosmos, Anatoly Perminov, at a press conference in TSOUP transmitted by television.
"The astronauts are in good health. They experience many medical and biological science to important," said Igor Glushakov on his part, director of the Institute of Medico-Biological Problems (IMBP) to monitor the health of space crews During the press conference.
One more day
The return of the Soyuz was postponed from Tuesday to Wednesday and the landing site had changed. This decision was made by specialists of the rescue forces, who had estimated that the land was too marshy initially chosen to receive the astronauts.
Rescue teams "were able to locate the device when it was 1000 meters tall, welcomed Alexander Vedernikov, deputy director of the Russian Air Service, responsible for the search operation.
Simonyi, the American astronaut Michael Barratt and flight commander, Russian Gennady Padalka, had taken off on March 26 aboard the Soyuz TMA-14 from the Russian Baikonur space base in the heart of the steppes of Kazakhstan.
Second trip
This is the second time this American of Hungarian origin, one of the six "tourists" who traveled to the cosmos, starting vacation on board the International Space Station (ISS for short), after a first trip two years ago.
The U.S. tycoon, who paid $ 25 million (19 million euros) for a similar flight in April 2007, had to pay $ 35 million this time. He stayed 11 days aboard the ISS before returning to Earth.
In this way, Simonyi entered history as the first individual that carried out two missions of this type.
It could also be the last space tourist in a long time because it will soon double the number of astronauts aboard the station and is no longer room for visitors.
