Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka returned safely to Earth with two other astronauts from the International Space Station on Saturday as the man who has spent more time in space than anyone else.

Padalka -- who has spent a total of 879 days in space over five separate trips -- touched down on the barren Kazakh steppe on schedule at 0051 GMT along with Kazakh cosmonaut Aidyn Aimbetov and Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen.

"Landing has taken place," confirmed a spokesman from the Russian space agency Roscosmos. "All is well."