KOROLYOV /Moscow Region/, September 12. /TASS/. The evacuation of three crew members of the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft’s descent capsule has begun, Mission Control near Moscow told TASS.
"Rescue workers have opened the hatch and are helping the men out," a Mission Control spokesman said.
The evacuation process is being telecast to the TV screen in Mission Control’s main room.
The three cosmonauts - Russia’s Gennady Padalka, Kazakhstan’s Aidyn Aimbetov and Denmark’s Andreas Mogensen - will first undergo a brief medical check and then be flown to Kazakhstan’s capital Astana for a special meeting with Kazakhstan’s leadership. Aimbetov is independent Kazakhstan’s first man in space.