'Soyuz TMA -10M' undocked from ISS

ASTANA. KAZINFORM - Landing of the descent vehicle is expected on March 11 in 7.24 a.m. Moscow time 147 kilometers southeast of the city of Zhezkazgan, RIA Novosti reports.

"Soyuz TMA -10M" manned spacecraft with Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazansky and NASA astronaut Michael Hopkins has undocked from the Russian segment of the International Space Station in automatic mode and set a course for the Earth, according to the Mission Control Center. "Soyuz TMA -10M" landing was previously scheduled for March 12, but later postponed to March 11 due to a deep layer of snow near the town of Arkalyk. In this regard, it was decided to land in a dry area near the city of Zhezkazgan. Kotov and Ryazansky went down in history as the first astronauts who have taken the Olympic torch into open space. This was the first time the Olympic torch had been taken into open space - but it was not able to emit flames due to the lack of oxygen.

The Olympic torch has gone on voyages aboard spacecraft twice before, in 1996 and 2000, but it has never been taken into open space.