Expedition 39 Crew lands in Kazakhstan

Koichi Wakata, the first Japanese to command the International Space Station, and two other crew members returned to Earth Tuesday. The crew completed a total of 188 days in space, during which they orbited the Earth 3,000 times.

"We have confirmation of the landing," a NASA television presenter said during a live broadcast of the landing, Reuters reported. "The crew are well and in good health."

Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Rick Mastracchio of NASA and Mikhail Tyurin of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) landed near Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan at 9:58 p.m. EDT.

"This was Mastracchio's fourth space station mission. He has now completed 228 days in space. Wakata has been on four space flights and has spent 348 days in space, while Tyurin has accumulated 532 days," NASA said in a news release

Mastracchio ventured out in the space on three contingency spacewalks during the mission. "The first two were to remove and replace a faulty cooling pump, and the third to remove and replace a failed backup computer relay box," NASA stated in a news release.

Tyurin was part of the crew that carried the torch of Russia's Sochi Winter Olympics to the orbit.

"Misha, what would you like to have right now?" a Roscosmos worker asked Tyurin, Reuters reported. "Some red wine, please," Tyurin replied.

During their 188-day space mission, the Expedition 39 crew participated in several studies including tests that measured immune function and neurodegenerative conditions. The group also developed a new plant growth chamber that could increase food production in the ISS.

The expedition also saw the arrival of cargo resupply spacecrafts including a Russian Progress resupply vehicle, Orbital Sciences' Cygnus cargo ship and SpaceX Dragon, NASA said.

Steve Swanson of NASA is the latest commander of the ISS. He is leading the Expedition 40 team aboard the orbiting laboratory. Oleg Artemyev and Alexander Skvortsov of Roscosmo, along with Swanson, will be tending to the station. They will be joined by three other crew members: Reid Wiseman of NASA, Maxim Suraev of Roscosmos and Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency. The new team is scheduled to launch from Kazakhstan May 28.