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French astronaut Pesquet returns to Earth after marathon space mission

Thomas Pesquet landed back on Earth after a marathon 196-day trip on the International Space Station .

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French astronaut Thomas Pesquet and his Russian colleague Oleg Novitskiyi landed back on Earth Friday after a marathon 196-day trip, reports FRANCE 24.

The world was a different place when Pesquet arrived on the International Space Station (ISS) on November 20 for a six-month mission.

Since then, Donald Trump has replaced Barack Obama in the White House and Emmanuel Macron, has taken over from François Hollande as president in Pesquet's native France.

Pesquet, 39, and Novitskiy, 45, quit the ISS on Friday morning for a Soyuz MS-03 spacecraft, which transported them back to the steppes of Kazakhstan. US astronaut Peggy Whitson will remain on the ISS until September.

Read more of this report from FRANCE 24.