Japanese astronaut back on ‘wonderful’ Earth

NEAR DZHEZKAZGAN, Kazakhstan (The Japan News/ANN) - “Space is wonderful, but Earth is wonderful, too,” says Kimiya Yui said after his spacecraft landed in Kazakhstan.

Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui returned to Earth on Friday after an about five-month mission at the International Space Station.

“Space is wonderful, but Earth is wonderful, too,” Yui said after his spacecraft landed in Kazakhstan.

It was around 7:12pm local time when the Russian spacecraft Soyuz touched down on a plain in the Central Asian nation. A blizzard had stopped by the time reporters waited for him to emerge from the craft.

Yui, 45, emerged at 7:50pm and shook hands with a female doctor of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The doctor was there to conduct a medical check.

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