MOSCOW, March 15 (RIA Novosti) - Unfavorable weather conditions have forced the Russian space agency Roscosmos to postpone the return of three Expedition 34 crewmembers - Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky, Yevgeny Tarelkin, and NASA astronaut Kevin Ford - from the International Space Station (ISS) by one day, space officials said Friday.
The Soyuz TMA-06M manned spacecraft with the crew was initially scheduled to undock from the ISS at 04:30 a.m. Moscow Time (0030 GMT) Friday and land at about 08:00 a.m. Moscow Time (0400 GMT) Friday in the town of Arkalyk, northern Kazakhstan.
“Unfortunately, weather forced us to delay the crew landing by one day,” Sergei Krikalyov, the chief of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, told RIA Novosti. Roscosmos confirmed that the return has been postponed.
Novitsky, Tarelkin and Ford arrived at the ISS in October 2012 on board the Soyuz TMA-06M. After the spacecraft's undocking, Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, and US astronaut Thomas Marshburn will stay at the space station. Hadfield took over the ISS command from Ford on Wednesday.
In late March, three crewmembers of Expedition 35 - Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov, Alexander Misurkin and NASA astronaut Christopher Cassidy - are expected to arrive at the ISS on board the Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft.
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