Italian astronaut returning to Earth after surpassing Dutch astronaut's record

Three astronauts are traveling back to earth from the International Space Station on Thursday. Among them is Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, who holds the record of being the female astronaut to spend the most time in space. She also holds the same record for European astronauts, taking the record from Dutch astronaut André Kuipers last week. The capsule carrying the tree astronauts is expected to land in Kazakhstan around 3:30 p.m. Dutch time, NOS reports. Their return to earth was delayed by a month due to an error with supply ship. The unmanned spacecraft caught fire in the atmosphere and fell back to earth. Cristoforetti was initially scheduled to return to earth on May 14th. She achieved both her records thanks to the delay. She spent a total of 200 days in space, 6 days longer than previous female astronaut holder Sunita Williams and 7 days longer than Kuipers.

Early start into Day 200 in #space. It's been an amazing journey, thx for coming along! Now time to go home to Earth. pic.twitter.com/Rzs03BDL2A

— Samantha Cristoforetti (@AstroSamantha) June 11, 2015

So long... and thanks for all the fish! #Futura42 pic.twitter.com/zBei4SbMQx

— Samantha Cristoforetti (@AstroSamantha) June 11, 2015