Japanese astronaut Furukawa Satoshi has expressed his resolution to successfully complete his International Space Station mission ahead of his return to the earth.

Furukawa spoke to Japanese reporters from the space station on Tuesday, Japan time. He has been on his second ISS mission, which began in August last year.

The astronaut said he will miss his life in outer space and that he wishes he could stay longer. But he said he is now committed to completing his remaining tasks and handing over the mission to the next crew.

He said in his mission, he succeeded in crystallizing high-quality protein, which will help the development of new drugs.

He also said he had completed a long-range experiment for the water recovery system that two other Japanese astronauts, Hoshide Akihiko and Wakata Koichi, passed on to him.

Furukawa said the space business will develop further, noting that a US private spacecraft, the Crew Dragon, carried him to the space station.

He said he wants to talk about his experience to Japanese astronauts, hoping that they will follow the path to space one after another.

Furukawa is expected to return to the earth as early as March after completing a mission that lasted about six months.