Soyuz Spacecraft With 3 Crewmembers Undocks From ISS

The Soyuz TMA-20M space vehicle has successfully undocked from the International Space Station.

KOROLEV (Moscow Region) (Sputnik) — The Soyuz TMA-20M space vehicle with three crewmembers of the International Space Station (ISS) has successfully undocked from the ISS, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported on Wednesday from the RKA Mission Control Center.

The Soyuz TMA-20M is the last in the Soyuz TMA-M series of space vehicles. Future launches are set to be carried out on the Soyuz MS series.

The spacecraft with Russian cosmonauts, commander Alexei Ovchinin and flight engineer Oleg Skripochka, along with NASA’s astronaut, flight engineer Jeff Williams are returning to Earth. Before the arrival of new crewmembers to the ISS, Russia's Anatoli Ivanishin, Japan's Takuya Onishi and US' Kathleen Rubins will continue the work on the orbit.

The landing of the reentry capsule is expected 04:13 local time (01:13 GMT) 147 kilometers (91 miles) from the Kazakh city of Jezkazgan.

The launch of the Soyuz MS-02 is scheduled for September 23 from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan. The main crew of the spacecraft would include Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrei Borisenko, as well as NASA's Shane Kimbrough.