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Spacecraft with 3 ISS crewmembers starts descending from orbit

KOROLEV, December 11. /TASS/. Soyuz TMA 17-M manned spacecraft that undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) earlier today has turned on engines for descending from a low Earth orbit, Moscow-based Mission Control Center told TASS on Friday.

"A command was made to turn on the engine for slowing down," the center said.

The spacecraft is carrying Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren and Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui who have spent almost five months at the ISS. Among those who will continue working at the ISS are Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Sergey Volkov and US astronaut Scott Kelly. They will return to the Earth in March 2016.

The spacecraft is expected to land at 4:12pm to the south-east from Jezkazgan in Kazakhstan.

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