Soyuz spacecraft undocks from ISS

KOROLYOV. November 26. KAZINFORM The Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) on time early on Friday and is due to land in the Kazakh steppe in three hours; Kazinform refers to ITAR-TASS.

The spacecraft carries Russian cosmonaut Fedor Yurchikhin and NASA astronauts Douglas Wheelock and Shannon Walker who spent over five months at the ISS.

The undocking went normally and the three spaceflyers are feeling well, a mission control spokesman said.

Veteran cosmonaut Yurchikhin has now spent over a year in space - a total of 371 days. Wheelock has spent 178 days in space, and Walker 163 days.

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka remained at the ISS to welcome a new international crew on December 17.

The new expedition is to be approved on Friday in the Russian Star City. The main crew comprises Russian Dmitry Kondratyev, European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli, and NASA astronaut Catherine Coleman. Stand-by crew comprises Russian Anatoly Ivanishin, Japanese Satoshi Furukawa, and American Michael Fossum; Kazinform cites ITAR-TASS.

See www.itar-tass.com/eng