Record-breaking Peggy Whitson lands back on Earth

American astronaut Peggy Whitson has returned to Earth safely after spending a record-breaking length of time in space.

Whitson landed in Kazakhstan on Sunday following a 288-day mission on the International Space Station (ISS), which Nasa says brings her total time in orbit to 665 days - a new record for a US astronaut.

At 57 years old, The Guardian says Whitson also claims a place in history as the “world’s oldest spacewoman” and “the first woman to command the space station twice following her launch last November”.

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During her most recent visit to space, Nasa says Whitson was tasked with researching “the physical changes to astronauts' eyes caused by prolonged exposure to a microgravity environment”.

Other studies included the effects that a low-gravity environment has on stem cells, as well as an investigation “that could increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs for cancer treatment”.

Whitson told Nasa that she is “not overly comfortable with the praise about the records”, but said “it is critical that we are continuously breaking records, because that represents us moving forward in exploration”.

She added: “I am working on paying forward some of the advice and mentoring that I received on my journey, in hopes that one day those young people will do the same and look back on a life in which they leapt at the opportunities and broke their own records.”

Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka is the world record holder for days spent in space, says The Independent, clocking up 879 days in orbit over the course of five missions.

Another Russian cosmonaut, Valery Polyakov, holds the record for "the longest single stay in space", at 437 days and 18 hours.