Japan's Koichi Wakata returned to Earth on Saturday along with three other astronauts aboard a U.S. SpaceX spacecraft, following a five-month stay at the International Space Station.
Wakata, 59, completed his fifth space mission, a record for a Japanese. The country's oldest astronaut has spent a total of more than 500 days in space.
The commercial spacecraft Crew Dragon deployed a parachute after entering the atmosphere with Wakata, two astronauts from U.S. space agency NASA and one from Russia landing off the coast of Florida after 9 p.m. It had left the ISS earlier in the day.
A recovery team waiting at sea lifted the spacecraft onto a ship, with Wakata smiling at the staff as he emerged.
The spacecraft was launched from Florida in early October on a mission that included some experiments in low-gravity environments, such as testing the movements of liquids, to help develop technologies for future missions to the Moon and Mars.
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