Yusaku Maezawa, Yozo Hirano, and Alexander Misurkin have safely landed on Earth after their brief stint aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
Spending twelve days aboard the ISS, the fashion tycoon Maezawa, his producer Hirano and their cosmonaut companion Misurkin have safely returned home, making a soft landing with their Russian Soyuz capsule. They landed in Kazakhstan roughly 150 kilometers (90 miles) southeast of the city of Zhezkazgan at 10:13 p.m. EST Sunday (03:13 UTC).
Helicopters could not reach the landing site quickly due to weather conditions, so two all-terrain vehicles were dispatched to collect the crew. All of the crew reported feeling fine, and they were later flown to the Star City space flight preparation facility outside of Moscow to continue the post-flight assessment.
Maezawa and Hirano were the first self-paying tourists to visit the ISS since 2009. Though Maezawa couldn't disclose the exact sum he spent for the adventure, he said it was "pretty much" the reported over $80 million, stating "once you are in space, you realize how much it is worth it by having this amazing experience."
