The astronaut who photographed Birmingham from space , Commander Chris Hadfield, is getting used to life back on Earth after his five-month mission to the International Space Station.
Canadian Hadfield, American Thomas Marshburn, and Russian Roman Romanenko landed near the Kazakhstan town of Dzhezkazganon on Tuesday morning.
Cmdr Hadfield, 53, became a social media star onboard the ISS, taking pictures around the world - including a fascinating night time image of Birmingham and the West Midlands - and he even recording a version of David Bowie's Space Oddity.
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It is believed to be the first music video made in space, according to NASA.
"With deference to the genius of David Bowie, here’s Space Oddity, recorded on Station. A last glimpse of the World," Cmdr Hadfield said via Twitter.
The five-minute video posted on Sunday drew a salute from Bowie’s official Facebook page: "It’s possibly the most poignant version of the song ever created."
An engineer and former test pilot from Milton, Ontario, was Canada’s first professional astronaut to live aboard the space station and became the first Canadian in charge of a spacecraft.
Cmdr Hadfield tweeted the photo of Birmingham in April, with the message: “The lights of big cities near each other can be overwhelming – such as here, with Birmingham 海角视频 on the right.”
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Since he launched to Station on December 19, he gained considerable public interest online and tweeted with fellow Canadian and Star Trek legend William Shatner.
Cmdr Hadfield relinquished command of the space station on Sunday.
"It’s just been an extremely fulfilling and amazing experience end to end," he told Mission Control
Live footage on NASA TV showed the Soyuz TMA-07M capsule slowly descending by parachute onto the sun-drenched steppes under clear skies.
Russian search and rescue helicopters hovered over the landing site for a quick recovery effort.
Rescue teams moved quickly to help the crew in their bulky spacesuits get out through the narrow exit hatch of the capsule. They were then put into reclining chairs to start adjusting to Earth’s gravity after 146 days in space.
The three astronauts smiled as they chatted with space agency officials and doctors who were checking their condition. Hadfield, who served as the space station’s commander, gave a thumbs-up sign.
They then made quick phone calls to family members and friends.