MOSCOW, December 22. /TASS/. Exercising control of a Soyuz MS-20 manned spacecraft alone turned to be easier than expected before the flight, cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin said at a TASS online press conference held jointly with Roscosmos and the Cosmonaut Training Center on Wednesday.

"It was not as difficult as it seemed. At some moment, my crewmembers, Maezawa-san and Hirano-san, took an insignificant but important part in this work. I am very grateful to them for their punctual, accurate, and reliable work," Misurkin said, replying to a corresponding question.

On the morning of December 20, a Soyuz MS-20 descent module carrying Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa and his business assistant Yozo Hirano returned to Earth.

Misurkin also became the first TASS correspondent in space.