Three astronauts safely landed in Kazakhstan after a two-day-long journey through space. The astronauts had spent 115 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

The team consisted of Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Roscosmos' Anatoly Ivanishin, and NASA's Kate Rubins, who became the first person to sequence DNA in space.

The team landed southeast of the Kazakh town of Zhezkazgan. Ivanishin was the first astronaut to emerge from the Soyuz descent module. He said in Russian that everybody is feeling wonderful. Rubins was the last one to come out from the module. The team will be flown to Karaganda town. Eventually, Ivanishin will go to Star City, Moscow. Onishi and Rubins are scheduled to come back to Houston.

The mission conducted the first-ever DNA sequencing test in space. The tests are expected to help astronauts in diagnosing ailments and in identifying microbes aboard the space station. In August, Rubins successfully sequenced DNAs of bacteria, virus, and mouse. She conducted the sequencing using a device known as MinION. She also conducted two spacewalks.

The team had arrived two weeks late to the ISS. The delay was caused by additional software tests conducted on the modified Soyuz MS-01 vehicle. This is the first complete mission for new generation Soyuz spacecraft.

The next mission carrying NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy of the Baikonur cosmodrome, and French astronaut Thomas Pesquet of European Space Agency is scheduled for November 17. The mission will depart from Baikonur, Kazakhstan.