On Thursday afternoon, a Soyuz capsule carrying International Space Station astronauts Terry Virts and Samantha Cristoforetti, as well as cosmonaut Shkaplerov, made contact with the ground in Kazakhstan. According to Slate, the most recent mission to the ISS resulted in a number of broken space records.

Virts seriously stepped up the space station’s Twitter game – his feed features breathtaking photos of our planet from low-Earth orbit, including amazing auroras, birds eye view shots of the great pyramids, and photos of everyday life aboard the ISS. Virts’ camera work offers a unique glimpse into what it’s like to be an astronaut on the space station.

Cristoforetti has enjoyed attention throughout the mission for her famous tour of the space station’s toilet, and her demonstration of how an astronaut makes and drinks espresso in space. But because of a malfunction with the Russian Soyez rocket and capsules, Cristoforetti had spent more than 200 days in space by the time she was able to return.

Cristoforetti inadvertently set the record for the longest single space trip by a woman in history. She also set the record for the longest uninterrupted space flight for an astronaut representing the European Space Agency. She was able to knock out Sunita Williams, who previously flew on the ISS for 195 days at a time.

The record breaking ISS mission has gathered excitement across the board, as it represents not only amazing technological progress, but also a great step forward for gender equality in the space exploration field.