Mark Vande Hei was going to return to Earth on a Russian space capsule. Vande Hei spent 355 days in the International Space Station.
Vande Hei boarded the Russian spaceship with two other Russians.
The trip is an example of increased cooperation between the US and Russia after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The spaceship left the International Space Station at 3:21 a.m. At the time of publication, it was on its way back to Earth.
—International Space Station (@Space_Station) March 30, 2022
Vande Hei, Shkaplerov, and Dubrov are going to land in Kazakhstan. The live stream of Vande Hei's return was set up by NASA.
Vande Hei's record-breaking achievement was overshadowed by tensions between Russia and the US.
In recent weeks, Russia's space agency chief Dimitry Rogozin has criticized the US sanctions in aggresive social-media posts.
A video aired by RIA Novosti and shared by NASA Watch suggested that Russia could refuse to return Vande Hei to Earth, stranding him in space.
Russian cosmonauts waved goodbye to Vande Hei before boarding a shuttle.
On March 11 he said that Vande Hei would come back to Earth as planned, and dismissed what he called "hysterical" news reports. NASA said the return would go on as usual.
Vande Hei's trip broke the longest spaceflight record set by Kelly in 2016 by 15 days. He studied muscle loss in space, as well as other topics, during his trip.
—ISS Research (@ISS_Research) March 25, 2022
Shkaplerov said the crew worked together very hard during the handover ceremony, which took place on Tuesday.
He said that they worked very hard and did not have any problems.
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