Space tourist returns to Earth

MISSION CONTROL MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.S. space tourist Charles Simonyi returned safely to Earth on Saturday, touching down with a Russian-U.S. crew in the steppe of Central Asia after paying for a two-week round trip into space.

The Russian-made Soyuz capsule undocked from the International Space Station, re-entered Earth's atmosphere and landed just over three hours later in Kazakhstan at 1231 GMT.

Controllers who supervised the landing from Mission Control outside Moscow clapped along with the space travelers' relatives as they saw the announcement "It has landed!" appear in red capital letters on a giant screen.

ive television pictures from the landing site 133 km (81 miles) north-east of the Kazakh city of Jezkazgan showed recovery teams and doctors rushing to the capsule.

Ground crews first pulled out Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin who looked tired and kept his eyes closed. They then pulled out Simonyi who smiled while doctors wiped his face.

"I feel terrific, it was a fantastic trip, it is good to be back," Simonyi said before biting into an apple as he sat in a special reclining chair.

The world's fifth space tourist paid around $25 million for a fortnight in space and pre-flight training. He had been at the $100-billion space station, in orbit 350 km (217 miles) above Earth, since April 9.