US space tourist safely returns to Earth

Almaty: A Russian Soyuz capsule carrying US space tourist Richard Garriott and a Russian crew landed safely in Kazakhstan on Friday.

A Nasa television feed from Moscow's mission control centre described it as an on-target landing.

The $30 million space trip made multi-millionaire businessman Garriott the sixth private citizen to visit space.

Garriott spent the past 10 days aboard the International Space Station.

He said the flight fulfilled his dream of following in the footsteps of his father, former NASA astronaut Owen Garriott.

"What a great ride that was," said Garriott in comments reported by The Associated Press. "This is obviously a pinnacle experience."

Garriott has said he hoped to make his spaceflight a commercial success by conducting protein crystal growth experiments for a biotech company co-founded by his father.

Garriott was also paid to wear a watch to test its performance in microgravity.