MOSCOW (AFP) - The Soyuz space capsule carrying US millionaire businessman Greg Olsen returned to Earth , the Russian Space Flight Control Centre said.

Olsen, 60, the third civilian in history to pay for a space flight, paid Space Adventures 20 million dollars (16.5 million euros) for a seat aboard the capsule and eight days of gazing down at the Earth from the ISS station, 230 miles (370 kilometers) up.

The Soyuz, which began its return journey to Earth by separating from the International Space Station at 2149 GMT Monday, landed safely on the steppes of Kazakhstan in central Asia at 0109 GMT Tuesday, a spokesman for the centre said.