Moscow: A Japanese billionaire, his producer and a Russian cosmonaut safely returned to Earth Monday after spending 12 days on the International Space Station.
Fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa, his producer Yozo Hirano and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin made a soft landing in a Russian Soyuz capsule in the steppes of Kazakhstan at 9:13 A.M. (0313 GMT) about 148 kilometers (about 92 miles) southeast of the city of Zhezkazgan.
Maezawa, 46, and his 36-year-old producer Hirano were the first self-paying tourists to visit the space station since 2009.