CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) – A U.S. astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts wrapped up a 172-day mission aboard the International Space Stationwith a parachute descent and landing at dawn on the steppes of Kazakhstan, a NASA TV broadcast showed.

Article by Irene Klotz

The capsule made a parachute descent southeast of Zhezkazgan, disappearing into a layer of haze as it neared the ground.

The Soyuz is pictured as it descends to an early morning landing in Kazakhstan. Credit: @NASA/@IngallsImagespic.twitter.com/H9Mg2ev0fe

— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) 7 de septiembre de 2016

Expedition 48: Jeff Williams, Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka are back on Earth. Credit: @NASA/@IngallsImagespic.twitter.com/noy2JV6ah6

— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) 7 de septiembre de 2016

The mission comes the same day a U.S. space probe was cleared for launch on Thursday to collect and return samples from an asteroid in hopes of learning more about the origins of life on Earth and perhaps elsewhere in the solar system, NASA said.

Williams, 58, returns to Earth with a career total of 534 days in orbit, more time than any other astronaut in U.S. history and 14th in the world.

The Russians remain champions of long-duration spaceflight, with cosmonaut Gennady Padalka currently the world record-holder with 878 days in space over five missions.

Before leaving the station, Williams turned over command of the $100 billion outpost, a project of 15 nations, to cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin, who remains aboard the station with NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Japan’s Takuya Onishi.

“We’ll be missing you here,” Ivanishin said during a change-of-command ceremony on Monday. “Have fun riding though the atmosphere … and have a very safe and exceptionally soft landing.”

A replacement crew is due to launch on Sept. 23 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

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