Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and his two colleagues at the International Space Station returned to Earth on Friday evening after completing a nearly five-month mission.
Yui, 45, landed on the plains of Kazakhstan aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft after serving as flight engineer on the ISS for 142 days. Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and U.S. astronaut Kjell Lindgren joined him on the trip home, with their descent slowed by parachutes attached to the Russian-built capsule.
The three astronauts returned around 11 days earlier than planned due to rescheduling aimed at enabling the departure of Russia's Progress, an unpiloted cargo ship that had seen its liftoff postponed to Dec. 21 instead of November.
After departing from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on July 23, Yui conducted various tasks, including using a robotic arm to catch and dock the unmanned Kounotori 5, a Japanese cargo transport that ferried water and experimental equipment to the ISS.
After Yui, fellow Japanese Takuya Onishi, 39, is scheduled to arrive at the ISS next June, followed by Norishige Kanai, 39, in November 2017.
"It is an uncanny feeling to think I will be on Earth in 24 hours. I will go to bed to prepare for my return tomorrow . . . This might be the last tweet from space," the former Air Self-Defense Force test pilot said via Twitter on Thursday.