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Soyuz with Russian cosmonauts and US astronaut undocks from ISS

The ship’s landing module is to land in Kazakhstan at 06:25 a.m. Moscow time

KOROLYOV /Moscow region/, September 11. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s Soyuz TMA-12M manned spaceship with Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov, Oleg Artyomyev and NASA astronaut Steven Swanson has undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) and in now heading for the Earth, a spokesman for the mission control centre told ITAR-TASS early on Thursday.

The ship’s landing module is to land in Kazakhstan at 06:25 a.m. Moscow time.

“Soyuz TMA-12M undocked from the ISS at 03:00 a.m. Moscow time on Thursday. The flight proceeds as per normal, Alexander Skvortsov, Oleg Artyomyev and Steven Swanson feel well,” the spokesman said.

The remaining crew onboard the International Space Station include Russian cosmonaut Maksim Surayev, who took over the command from Swanson, NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman and European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst.

The Soyuz is planned to land in the Kazakh steppe, some 148 kilometres southeast of the city of Dzhezkazgan. At about 05:30 a.m. Moscow time, the ship’s engines will begin to slowdown and the ship will de-orbit to enter the dense atmosphere at 06:01 a.m. Moscow time. The landing module’s parachute will be released at an altitude of 11 kilometres.

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