Three astronauts, including a Russian and an American, have touched down safely on earth aboard a Soyuz capsule, the first such landing since Russia's relationship with the US slumped amid the Ukraine crisis.
The returning crew consisted of Japan's Koichi Wakata, who was the first Japanese commander of an International Space Station (ISS) mission, as well as NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin.
They landed safely on Wednesday at 0159 GMT (1259 AEDT) in the Kazakh steppes after spending more than half a year aboard the orbiting ISS.
Research conducted by the crew during their 188-day stint in space included growing vegetables, investigating the design of medical drugs and studying how an astronaut's biological clock is different from that of a human on earth.
Their landing was the first since Russia's relationship with the US and western Europe hit its lowest point in decades over the annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula by Moscow in mid-March.
NASA announced in April it was cutting space co-operation with Russia over Moscow's Ukraine policies, but work at the space station would not be affected.
In what appeared to be a retaliatory move, Russia's deputy prime minister, Dmitry Rogozin, said on Tuesday that Moscow had no plans to keep the station past 2020, even though NASA said in January the station's lifespan had been extended to 2024.
Use of the space station depends on Russia, which is the only country in charge of transporting astronauts and cosmonauts to and from the station.
The ISS was launched in 1998 and has been a symbol of co-operation, particularly between the US and Russia.
When the time comes to retire the station, it will be removed from orbit and sunk in the ocean.
At a media conference on Tuesday, Wakata thanked the three-man crew staying behind with the ISS and formally handed over the command to US astronaut Steve Swanson as the two floated the microphone to each other in the cramped space surrounded by crewmates.
Swanson's crew now comprises Russia's Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev. They will be joined later in May by American Reid Wiseman, Germany's Alexander Gerst and Russia's Maxim Surayev.
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