Space station crew bound for Earth

Four astronauts left the International Space Station yesterday and were bound for Earth following a more than six-month mission.

Led by American astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, Nasa's Crew-7 arrived at the research platform last August aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon.

The same spacecraft undocked on Monday morning, with Andreas Mogensen of Denmark, Satoshi Furukawa of Japan, and Russian cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov also on board.

Moghbeli, who was making her first spaceflight, paid tribute to the post-Cold War international partnership that paved the way for the construction of the ISS in the 1990s.

"It's an indication of what we can do when we work together," she said during a farewell ceremony on Sunday.

"To think back to when this was just a dream itself, and the people that had the vision, the grit and the courage to pursue this orbiting laboratory in low Earth orbit, I'm really proud to be a part of this."