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Russian spacecraft with 3 crewmembers starts orbital descent to return to Earth

The descent capsule is expected to land near the town of Zhezkazgan in Kazakhstan

KOROLYOV /Moscow Region/, October 4. /TASS/. The Soyuz MS-08 spacecraft with three crewmembers, which departed from the International Space Station (ISS) several hours ago, has fired its slowdown engines and started its descent from the near-Earth orbit, Russia’s Mission Control said on Thursday.

"The engine is fired," the Flight Control Center said.

The spacecraft is bringing the crewmembers of the long-term Expedition 56 back to Earth: Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev and NASA astronauts Richard Arnold and Andrew Feustel.

The descent capsule is expected to land near the town of Zhezkazgan in Kazakhstan at 14:45 Moscow time.