Moscow: Three crew members of the International Space Station (ISS) will return to earth April 27, the country's space agency has said.
The landing of Russia's manned spacecraft is slated for April 27, Roscosmos said Wednesday.
Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin, and NASA astronaut Dan Burbank will have to spend one more month than their scheduled return March 16.
Three other members, Oleg Kononenko from Russia, Andre Kuipers from the European Space Agency (ESA) and Donald Pettit from NASA, will continue to stay until May.
The next crew to ISS, including Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin and NASA astronaut Joseph Acaba, is expected to fly to ISS May 15, Xinhua reported.
After the retirement of the US shuttle fleet, Russia's Soyuz spacecraft has become the only way for astronauts to reach the ISS at least until 2015.
IANS
First Published: Thursday, March 29, 2012, 09:24