Italy's first woman astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti landed in Kazakhstan aboard the Russian Soyuz shuttle on Thursday after 200 days on the International Space Station, the longest space mission by a woman.
Cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian Federal Space Agency and expedition commander Terry Virts of NASA also touched down with Cristoforetti near the town of Zhezkazgan in a remote area of Kazakhstan's steppes.
"We are very proud of you," tweeted Italian premier Matteo Renzi. "Welcome back".
Italy's head of state Sergio Matarella also welcomed Cristoforetti back.
"Our thoughts are with you and we are immensely proud of this record, welcome back Samantha," Mattarella said in a statement, inviting her to the presidential palace in Rome when she returned to Italy.
The Soyuz shuttle, ferrying her and two other astronauts, left the International Space Station at around 10:20 GMT and began the journey back, estimated to take about 200 minutes.
Cristoforetti and her fellow astronauts will spend a period of rehabilitation in Houston, the Italian space agency ASI said in a statement.
The rehabilitation will allow them to get used to earth's gravity again, undergo medical tests and provide information on their trip, ASI said.
She is the seventh Italian astronaut to go into space, according to ASI.
