The Soyuz TMA-2 craft landed at 05:41 am Moscow time (0241 GMT) as planned, in a secluded spot some 35 kilometers (21 miles) south of the town of Arkalyk, the agency's chief, General Vladimir Popov, said.

"The cosmonauts feel fine, the landing was successful. Pedro Duque was only sorry that his trip was so short," Popov said.

In an unprecedented security measure, doctors from the United States and Spain were present at the landing site, while 12 helicopters and three airplanes patrolled the skies.

A US military mobile hospital also was on standby in Kazakhstan's capital Astana, to ease concerns voiced by NASA and the European Space Agencyfollowing the last mission's troubled landing in May.

ESA is one of the main partners along with Russia and the United States in the 16-nation International Space Station project.

It is the first space mission for a European astronaut on the ISS since the disaster of the American space shuttle Columbia in February, and the presence of Spaniard Pedro Duque on the flight was seen as a boost for the European space program.

During his 10-day mission Duque, who is also the first Spaniard to board the ISS, had been due to carry out 24 experiments in the fields of life and physical sciences, Earth observation, education and technology.

Malenchenko and Lu, who spent six months on board the ISS, were replaced by British-born American Michael Foale and Russian Alexander Kaleri, who will stay on board the space station until April 2004.

SPACE.WIRE