Space station crewmates head back to Earth

After five months in space, International Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield has returned to the planet. While manning the ISS he also created the first music video in space, using a rendition of David Bowie's "Space Oddity." NBC's Brian Williams reports.

By Miriam Kramer, Space.com

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying a crew of three space travelers successfully touched down on the Central Asian steppes of Kazakhstan on Tuesday, wrapping up a five-month mission to the International Space Station.

Canadianastronaut Chris Hadfield, NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn and Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko landed in their Soyuz capsule atabout 8:31 a.m. Kazakh time (10:31 p.m. ET Monday).

"It's beautiful," Romanenko radioed right before landing. "It's morning here."[Astronaut Chris Hadfield's 8 Most Amazing Space Moments]

After the landing, all three had smiles on their faces. "That was quite a ride home," Hadfield said.

The trio's return marks the end of the station's Expedition 35, which Hadfield commanded, and the start of Expedition 36. The landing comes just two days after Marshburn and NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy performed an unprecedentedemergency spacewalkto fix a serious ammonia coolant leak on the outside of the station.

The three spacefliers orbited Earth 2,300 times and logged 61 million miles (98 million kilometers) during their 144 days on the station. Romanenko, Hadfield and Marshburn also witnessed the arrival and departure of a few unmanned cargo ships, including SpaceX's Dragon capsule in March.

Hadfield was the first Canadian commander of the space station, and he shared his unique perspective on the planet with everyone back on Earth during his time on the orbiting outpost. The astronaut beamed back a series of videos about life in space, including a music video cover ofDavid Bowie's "Space Oddity,"sung as a goodbye to his space-based home.

Cosmic Log: Space station chief returns home a star

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Space station crewmates head back to Earth