KOROLEV (Moscow Region), September 7. /TASS/. The Soyuz TMA-20M spacecraft has undocked from the International Space Station (ISS), the Mission Control Center based in the Moscow Region told TASS on Wednesday.
"The spacecraft physically separated itself from the station," a center’s spokesman said.
The Soyuz is carrying Russian cosmonauts Aleksey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka, and US astronaut Jeffrey Williams.
The spacecraft’s engine will give out two impulses in the next few minutes to take the Souyz to a safe distance from the ISS.
It is expected to land at 4:14am Moscow time in 148 kilometers to the south-east of the Jezkazgan city in Kazakhstan.
Ovchinin, Skripochka and Williams went to the orbit on March 19 and spent 172 days in space. This was the first space flight for Ovchinin, second for Skripochka and fourth for Williams. Until the next Soyuz comes, Russian cosmonaut Anatoli Ivanishin, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi and US astronaut Kathleen Rubins will stay on the ISS.
The next Soyuz spacecraft will fly to the ISS on September 23. It will take Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrei Borisenko, and US astronaut Robert S. Kimbraugh to space.