Three members of the International Space Station (ISS) crew will return to Earth on Sunday after spending more than six months in orbit.
Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, NASA astronaut Don Pettit and European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers are scheduled to undock from the ISS on board a Russian-built Soyuz carrier rocket at 04:48 GMT, a Russian Mission Control spokesman said.
The Soyuz capsule carrying the trio is expected to land at 08:14 GMT in the territory of Kazakhstan.
Three other ISS crew members – Russia’s Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin and NASA astronaut Joe Acaba – will remain in orbit.
NASA astronaut Suni Williams, Russian cosmonaut Yury Malenchenko and Japanese astronaut Aki Hoshide are expected to arrive at the ISS on July 15 on board a Soyuz TMA-05M spaceship to replace the outgoing crew.
