The Russian Soyuz TMA-10 capsule landed in Kazakhstan on Sunday, after an abnormally steep descent shrouded in secrecy. Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov, and the first Malaysian astronaut Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor are reportedly feeling well, despite being subjected to higher than normal deceleration forces associated with this type of "ballistic" trajectory.

The plan was for Soyuz to land near the town of Arkalyk but instead touched down some 211 miles west of Arkalyk, making this the first "ballistic" re-entry since the Soyuz TMA-1 spacecraft returned on May 3, 2003, with the space station's sixth full time crew. Touchdown occurred one minute earlier than planned and within 20 minutes all the crew members were extracted successfully and confirmed in good shape. The temperature on the ground was quite chilly, around 43 degrees Fahrenheit, and the men were given hot tea and were laid out on warming mats.

"The crew is safe on the ground," Navias reported. "It landed almost in an upright position, slightly canted, we are told, one helicopter on the ground, others soon to arrive to continue the process of beginning to safe the vehicle and extract the crew."

Russia's Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin said that the unusually steep trajectory is apparently to blame on a computer glitch. Alexei Krasnov, the head of the Russian space agency's manned space programs, confirmed an official commission was formed to investigate the glitch. "It's difficult to immediately name a specific reason behind the problem. We need to do an in-depth analysis," he said to AP.

Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov, who had spent six months aboard the ISS, were aboard the craft along with Malaysia's first astronaut Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor who arrived at the station on October 12. Following Shukor, a second could fly into space, Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najip Razak told the press at Mission Control outside Moscow on Sunday. Sheikh Muszaphar is a 35-year-old physician and performed experiments involving diseases and the effects of microgravity and space radiation on cells and genes.

On the International Space Station there are U.S. astronauts Peggy Whitson and Clayton Anderson, and cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko. Whitson is the station's first female commander and is to spend six months in orbit. She arrived on the ISS with a Soyuz on Oct. 10.

The Soyuz-TMA is the latest revision of the successful Soyuz spacecraft used by the Russian Federal Space Agency for human spaceflights. Unlike earlier models, it features a glass cockpit and can accommodate taller people. It actually features custom-fitted seat liners for each crewmember's couch/seat, which are individually molded to fit each person's body for maximum comfort and safety. The Soyuz-TMA version entered service after 2003, but the initial Soyuz design dates back to the 1960s.