US Astronaut With Record-Long Spaceflight Mission Returns to Earth in Russian Capsule

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei gives the thumbs up outside the Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft after he landed with Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, on March 30, 2022. Bill Ingall/NASA via AP

U.S. astronaut Mark Vande Hei and two Russian cosmonauts have returned to Earth on Wednesday after spending a record 355 days at the International Space Station (ISS).

The American space explorer clocked the single longest spaceflight by a NASA astronaut in mid-March after breaking the previous record, held by retired NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, by 15 days, NASA said in a statement.