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Kazakhstan|science|September 13, 2014 / 03:19 PM
Two Russian cosmonauts, NASA astronaut touch down in Kazakhstan

AKIPRESS.COM - There was a time when a cosmonaut returning to Earth would be feted as a national hero and showered with medals. These days, however, it seems the reward is something rather more modest... a watermelon.

Russia's Oleg Artemyev was presented with the fruit yesterday after returning from a six-month posting aboard the International Space Station (ISS), Daily Mail reports.

The Russian Soyuz capsule that landed in Kazakhstan yesterday also contained U.S. astronaut Steve Swanson and a second cosmonaut, Alexander Skvortsov.

Riding inside a Russian Soyuz capsule, the three landed southeast of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan at 2.23 Wednesday GMT.

In addition to a pair of Russian space walks, the returning crew tackled a record number of science experiments, upgraded the station's prototype humanoid robot and repaired broken equipment.

New station commander Max Suraev remains aboard the orbital outpost along with NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman and the European Space Agency's Alexander Gerst.

Three new crew members, including the first Russian woman to serve on the station, are due to launch on September 25.

During their time aboard the space station, the crew participated in research focusing on Earth remote sensing, human behavior and performance, and studies of bone and muscle physiology.

One of the key areas was also human health management for long duration space travel – NASA and Roscosmos are currently preparing for two crew members to spend an entire year aboard the ISS laboratory in 2015.

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