MOSCOW, April 24 (RIA Novosti) The ISS Expedition-10 crew that worked on board International Space Station for the past six months will return to Earth on Monday.Head of the Federal Space Agency Anatoly Perminov and deputy head of NASA Fred Gregory will monitor the flight of the Soyuz landing capsule from the Mission Control Center (MCC) near Moscow, Roskosmos officials told RIA Novosti.
American astronaut Leroy Chiao and Russian cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov return to Earth after the orbital mission. Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori, who spent a week on board the ISS as a visitor conducting research in the framework of the Eneide program will join them.
The crew will lock transfer hatches of the station on April 24 at about 19:30 (Moscow time). "The undocking of the Soyuz spacecraft is planned for 22:38 (Moscow time)," announced MCC officials.
On Monday, April 25, at about 2:08 (Moscow time), the landing capsule of Soyuz TMA-5 spacecraft should make a soft parachute landing near the town of Arkalyk in Kazakhstan.
The return might be complicated by floods in the landing zone, head of the Federal Search and Rescue Service Vladimir Popov reported earlier to head of Roskosmos Anatoly Perminov during a meeting of extended board.
"The landing will be conducted in difficult conditions, complicated by limited visibility at night and the floods in the area," he said.
At the same time, Popov underlined that "all means deployed in the operation are in good technical condition, and rescue crews are ready to accomplish the set tasks."
