Koichi Wakata, the first Japanese commander of the International Space Station, returned to Earth on Wednesday after completing a six-month mission.

Wakata, 50, landed in Kazakhstan aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft after handing his duties as ISS commander, which he assumed in March, to U.S. astronaut Steven Swanson. He served as the station's skipper for 66 days.

Swanson and cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev will manage the station, a $100 billion project of 15 nations, until new crew mates arrive on May 28.