A Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft with three members of the International Space Station (ISS) crew undocked from the station's Rassvet module on Friday in preparation for return to Earth, a Russian mission control center spokesman said.
The landing is expected at 03.45 p.m. Moscow time (11:45 GMT) on Friday in a designated area some 85 kilometers (about 52 miles) north-east of the town of Arkalyk in Kazakhstan.
Several aircraft and helicopters, as well as six rescue vehicles will ensure a quick search and recovery of the returning crew from the landing capsule.
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 set back the return plans date.
The next expedition to the ISS will comprise 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.
