A US astronaut and his Russian crewmate ventured outside the international space station today for a strenuous six-hour spacewalk intended to fix a faulty antenna.

A Russian space capsule carrying an Italian, a Russian and an American hurtled safely home to Earth from the International Space Station today, landing softly on the marshy Central Asian steppes in the early-morning darkness.

The crew of the international space station have been alarmed by a possible collision with space debris, but Russian space officials said today the men were safe and there was no immediate sign of any damage.

Russian space officials have set March 20 as the date for dumping the Mir space station.