Russia’s space agency Roscosmos has set the date for the return of the Soyuz TMA-22 manned spacecraft from the International Space Station (ISS) to Earth for April 27, head of manned flight programs at Roscosmos Alexei Krasnov said on Wednesday.
“We have agreed the landing date with our foreign partners in ISS project. It will be April 27,” Krasnov said.
Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin, and NASA astronaut Dan Burbank, were scheduled to return to Earth on board the Soyuz TMA-22 on March 16 but the delayed launch of the Soyuz-TMA-04M with the next ISS expedition affected the return plans as well.
The next expedition to ISS will comprise of Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin, and NASA astronaut Joseph Acaba. The expected launch date is May 15.
The new members of the ISS crew will join NASA astronaut Don Pettit, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers, who arrived at the ISS in December to spend 147 days aboard the orbital station.
