Japanese space tourists depart International Space Station
ABC News
A Japanese billionaire, his producer and a Russian cosmonaut have departed the International Space Station and are headed back to Earth, wrapping up the first visit by self-paying space tourists to the orbiting outpost in more than a decade
MOSCOW -- A Japanese billionaire, his producer and a Russian cosmonaut departed the International Space Station and headed back to Earth, wrapping up the first visit by self-paying space tourists to the orbiting outpost in more than a decade.
Fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa, his producer Yozo Hirano and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin boarded the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, which undocked from the station at 2350 GMT Sunday.
They were set to land in the steppes of Kazakhstan at 9:13 a.m. (0313 GMT) Monday about 150 kilometers (about 90 miles) southeast of the city of Zhezkazgan.
Maezawa, 46, and his 36-year-old producer were the first self-paying tourists to visit the space station since 2009.
