Bad weather postpones return of 3 astronauts

U.S. astronaut Kevin Ford (left), and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy (center) and Evgeny Tarelkin walk to a bus during a sending-off ceremony at the Baikonur cosmodrome, October 23, 2012, prior to blasting off for the International Space Station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. / VYACHESLAV OSELEDKO/AFP/Getty Images

MOSCOW Bad weather is delaying the return of three astronauts from the International Space Station.

The astronauts were scheduled to land in a Soyuz capsule in central Kazakhstan early Friday morning. But fog and freezing rain prevented Russian rescue helicopters from flying to the touchdown site.

• Soyuz blasts off with three-man crew bound for space station

NASA's Kevin Ford and Russians Oleg Novitsky and Yevgeny Tarelkin will stay at the space station for at least another day. They've been in space for nearly five months.

The astronauts had already climbed into their capsule and where waiting to close the hatch when Russian officials called off their departure at the last minute. Their return trip is now set for Saturday, when the weather is expected to be better.

Three other astronauts will remain at the space station.