Soyuz Lands in Kazakhstan

The crew are safe, but were subjected to severe G-forces during re-entry, said a spokesman for Mission Control according to AP news agency.

He said they were being examined on site by medical staff.

On board are Yi So-yeon, South Korea's first astronaut, Yuri Malenchenko from Russia and American Peggy Whitson.

The landing was approximately 295 miles from the expected landing site, delaying the recovery forces’ arrival to the spacecraft by approximately 45 minutes.

With Whitson and Malenchenko was spaceflight participant So-yeon Yi. She launched to the station April 8 with the Expedition 17 crew, Commander Sergei Volkov and Flight Engineer Oleg Kononenko, under contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency.