Space Station Crew Departs to Earth

2013/03/15

MOSCOW, March 16 (RIA Novosti) - The Soyuz TMA-06M manned spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) early on Saturday, beginning its voyage to bring three ISS crew members back to Earth, the Mission Control said.


Bad weather conditions forced the Russian space agency Roscosmos to postpone the undocking and landing of Expedition 34 members - Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky, Yevgeny Tarelkin, and NASA astronaut Kevin Ford - by one day.


The Soyuz spacecraft is due to land on Saturday at 7:06 a.m. Moscow time (3:06 a.m. GMT) 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of the town of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, according to Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency Rosaviatsia.


Novitsky, Tarelkin and Ford arrived at the ISS in October 2012 on board the Soyuz TMA-06M.


After the undocking, Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, and US astronaut Thomas Marshburn will remain on the space station. Hadfield took over command of the ISS from Ford on Wednesday.


In late March, three members of Expedition 35 - Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov, Alexander Misurkin and NASA astronaut Christopher Cassidy - are expected to arrive at the ISS on board a Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft.



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