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Soyuz MS-04 descent module lands in Kazakhstan

The spacecraft carries Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin and NASA astronauts Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer
Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin   AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky
Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin
© AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky

KOROLEV /Moscow Region/, September 3. /TASS/. The descent module of Russia’s Soyuz MS-04 spacecraft with three people on board landed in Kazakhstan early on Sunday, the Russian Mission Control center said.

"Landing done," a speaker of the Mission Control Center announced.

The three international crew members have been safely evacuated from the descent capsule minutes after the landing.

"All the three Soyuz MS-04 crew members have been successfully evacuated, they are in good health," the Russian Mission Control Center said.

Russia’s Federal Aviation Agency deployed two An-12 and one An-26 planes and 12 Mi-8 helicopters, as well as six search and rescue vehicles and other auxiliary equipment to ensure safe landing.

The Soyuz MS-04 spacecraft with Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin and NASA astronauts Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer on board undocked from the ISS at 00:58 Moscow time on Sunday.

Whitson arrived to the International Space Station on November 17, 2016 and spent nearly one year on the orbit. Yurchikhin and Fischer arrived to the ISS on April 20, 2017, and their mission lasted 135 days.

The ISS crew will comprise Russian cosmonaut Sergey Ryazansky, NASA astronaut Randolph Bresnik and ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli. They are to be joined by Russia’s Aleksandr Misurkin, and NASA’s Mark Vande Hei and Joseph Acaba, whose Soyuz MS-06 is due to blast off on September 13.