First Malaysian astronaut returns to Earth

Two Russian cosmonauts and the first Malaysian in space returned to Earth on Sunday after leaving the orbiting International Space Station, Russian mission control announced.
The Soyuz craft with Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, who carried out experiments for Malaysia's Genome Institute, and Russians Yuri Yurtshikin and Oleg Kotov returned to the Baikonur space base in Kazakhstan at 1043 GMT, it said.
The Malaysian astronaut, whose trip was paid for by the Malaysian government, left on the mission on October 10 with American Peggy Whitson, the new commander on the space station, and a Russian Yuri Malenchenko.
The decision to include a Malasian in a space mission was made four years ago, when Russia sold 18 Sukhoi 30 fighter jets to Malaysia for several billion dollars.
A practising Muslim, the Malaysian celebrated the end of the holy month of Ramadan aboard the ISS. Among other experiments, Muszaphar examined the impact of microgravitation on the coordination of eye and head movements and the evolution of cancerous cells in weightless conditions. Yurtshikin and Kotov had both spent six months aboard the space station.