NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky safely returned to Earth Tuesday after an eight-month mission aboard the International Space Station, landing on the Kazakh steppe.

The Soyuz MS-27/73S undocked Monday evening, endured re-entry temperatures of 2,500°F, and parachuted to a precise landing at 12:03 a.m. EST.

Russian recovery crews quickly extracted the crew, conducted medical checks, and prepared them for transport—Kim to Houston and his crewmates to Star City near Moscow.

During their mission, the trio completed nearly 4,000 orbits, covering 104 million miles, with Kim focusing on research and station maintenance while Ryzhikov and Zubritsky performed two spacewalks, CBS News has reported.

Kim reflected on the mission as a testament to human connection, calling the love and support among crewmates and teams the greatest quality enabling space exploration.