A Russian Soyuz space capsule made a rare nighttime landing in the frigid steppes of Kazakhstan early Monday, returning three astronauts to Earth after a four-month voyage to the International Space Station. A timing glitch forced the capsule to overshoot its intended landing site slightly by a few miles, but made an otherwise smooth touch down at 7:56 a.m. local time - one hour before sunrise - on Monday (Nov. 20), NASA officials said. Because of time zone differences it was still Sunday night at NASA's space station Mission Control center in Houston. "The crew is home," NASA spokesman Rob Navias said during landing commentary. Returning home on the Soyuz were NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide. The trio launched toward the station in mid-July and spent 127 days in space during their mission, according to a report of the Associated Press.
