Moscow: Three crew members aboard the International Space Station (ISS) will return to Earth Friday, the Russian mission control centre said.
The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft with ISS crewmembers Andrei Borisenko, Alexander Samokutyayev and Ron Garan was originally scheduled to land Sep 8, but the abortive launch of a Progress transport ship Aug 24 forced the rescheduling.
"The Soyuz TMA-21 is scheduled to undock from the ISS at 4.38 a.m. Friday and land at 8.00 a.m. some 147 km east of the city of Dzhezkazgan (Kazakhstan). This data is preliminary," spokesman for the mission control centre said.
There are currently six crew members aboard the ISS. The other three members are Sergei Volkov of Russia, Michael Fossum of the US, and Satoshi Furukawa of Japan. The remaining astronauts are scheduled to return in November.
IANS
First Published: Tuesday, September 13, 2011, 10:20