Soyuz MS-13 landing

The Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft descends under its parachute, photographed from a recovery helicopter circling the touchdown zone in Kazakhstan, on 6 February 2020.

ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano landed in the steppes of Kazakhstan at 09:12 GMT (10:12 CET) after six months in orbit. Luca conducted many scientific experiments during his second mission on the International Space Station.

This mission, known as ‘Beyond’ saw him become the third European and first ever Italian in command of the Station. He also performed four complex spacewalks to repair the particle physics instrument AMS-02, remotely operated a rock-collecting rover in the Netherlands, set the European record for most cumulative spacewalking hours and shared countless images of our planet from space.