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Rescue workers begin evacuation of cosmonauts from descent capsule

The three cosmonauts will first undergo a brief medical check and then be flown to Kazakhstan’s capital Astana for a special meeting with Kazakhstan’s leadership

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.