A Russian Soyuz spaceship carrying two astronauts and the fifth civilian space traveler unlocked from the International Space Station (ISS) and started trip home on Saturday, ending a 13-day mission.
The Soyuz capsule, which separated with the ISS at 13:10 Moscow time (0710 GMT), will carry back to the Earth the 14th ISS crew, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin and NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, who had worked there for 215 days.
The Soyuz spaceship blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on April 7. Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov on board will stay in the station as the 15th crew.
The U.S. software tycoon Charles Simonyi will also conclude his paid visit to the station, one day more than the slated 12 days in orbit due to a landing delay caused by weather conditions at the planned landing site in Kazakhstan.
The spacecraft is scheduled to land at a planned site in Kazakhstan at 16:30 Moscow time (1230 GMT), the Itar-Tass news agency said, citing Mission Control Center's spokesman Valery Lyndin.
The spacecraft engine will start working to brake 50 minutes before landing. The parachute will be deployed at the altitude of some 10 kilometers, Lyndin said.
Russian search and rescue teams, including helicopters, planes, search and communication vehicles as well as more than 150 civilian and military specialists have been ready for the landing, he said.
The main crews and cargoes to the ISS will be delivered by Russian spaceships till 2011, including the manned Soyuz spaceships and cargo spacecraft of the Progress type, according to a Russian-U.S. space agencies contract inked earlier this month.
NASA was forced to pay for places aboard Soyuz crafts and Russian ferries after the Columbia disaster in 2003 and subsequent suspension of shuttle flights.
The Soyuz capsule, which separated with the ISS at 13:10 Moscow time (0710 GMT), will carry back to the Earth the 14th ISS crew, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin and NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, who had worked there for 215 days.
The Soyuz spaceship blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on April 7. Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov on board will stay in the station as the 15th crew.
The U.S. software tycoon Charles Simonyi will also conclude his paid visit to the station, one day more than the slated 12 days in orbit due to a landing delay caused by weather conditions at the planned landing site in Kazakhstan.
The spacecraft is scheduled to land at a planned site in Kazakhstan at 16:30 Moscow time (1230 GMT), the Itar-Tass news agency said, citing Mission Control Center's spokesman Valery Lyndin.
The spacecraft engine will start working to brake 50 minutes before landing. The parachute will be deployed at the altitude of some 10 kilometers, Lyndin said.
Russian search and rescue teams, including helicopters, planes, search and communication vehicles as well as more than 150 civilian and military specialists have been ready for the landing, he said.
The main crews and cargoes to the ISS will be delivered by Russian spaceships till 2011, including the manned Soyuz spaceships and cargo spacecraft of the Progress type, according to a Russian-U.S. space agencies contract inked earlier this month.
NASA was forced to pay for places aboard Soyuz crafts and Russian ferries after the Columbia disaster in 2003 and subsequent suspension of shuttle flights.
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