MISSION CONTROL CENTER (Moscow region), June 16 (RIA Novosti) - The capsule of the Foton M-2 spacecraft with newts, geckos, crabs and snails on board landed in the preset area at 11.37 Moscow time on Thursday.

"The landing was normal. Rescuers found the capsule and loaded it into a helicopter," a spokesman for the Mission Control Center said.

The unique space laboratory Foton M-2 was launched from Baikonur (Kazakhstan) on May 30.

An important research program of Russian, European and U.S. scientists was being implemented on board the space laboratory for 16 days. The program included 40 experiments ordered by the European Space Agency and 20 Russian research works.