KOROLYOV, September 11 (RIA Novosti) - Russian piloted spaceship Soyuz TMA-12M, which is bringing back Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artyomyev and NASA astronaut Steven Swanson, has undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) and is now heading for Earth, the representative of the Mission Control Center told RIA Novosti on Thursday.
"Soyuz TMA-12M" is due to land about 147 kilometers southeast of the city of Zheskazgan in Kazakhstan. At about 05:30 Moscow time [01:30 GMT], on the altitude of about 350 kilometers [above the Earth's surface], the spaceship's engine is due to begin the braking. As a result, it will de-orbit and at 6:01 Moscow time [02:01 GMT] it will enter the dense layers of the atmosphere and begin a controllable descent," the Mission Control Center representative said.
Russian cosmonaut Maksim Surayev, US astronaut Reid Wiseman and the European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst will continue their work at ISS.
