Astronaut Kimiya Yui and two colleagues aboard the International Space Station will return to Earth on Dec. 11, some 11 days earlier than planned, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said Tuesday.
The change was made to accommodate a delay in a Russian cargo launch.
Together with Russian commander Oleg Kononenko and U.S. flight engineer Kjell Lindgren, Yui will touch down on a central Kazakhstan plain aboard a Soyuz spacecraft at around 10:10 p.m. Japan time, according to JAXA.
The three were originally expected to return around Dec. 22, but schedule adjustments were made among the countries involved to shorten their stay to make way for the departure of Russia's Progress unpiloted cargo spaceship, whose launch has been postponed to Dec. 21 from November, the agency said.
The three arrived on the ISS on a Soyuz spacecraft after blasting off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on July 23. Yui has been involved in various missions ,including catching Japan's unmanned Kounotori 5 cargo transporter with a robotic arm to dock it with the ISS.
Three crew members will remain on the ISS after the departure of Yui and his two colleagues — American commander Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Volkov and Mikhail Kornienko. Three replacement crew members are scheduled to arrive after Dec. 15.