ROSCOSMOS - Soyuz MS-01 Mission patch.
October 29, 2016
Image above: The Soyuz MS-01 spacecraft departs the International Space Station on time carrying three Expedition 49 crew members back to Earth. Image Credit: NASA TV.
NASA astronaut Kate Rubins of NASA, Anatoly Ivanishin of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency undocked from the International Space Station at 8:35 p.m. EDT to begin their journey home.
Ivanishin, the Soyuz commander, is at the controls of the MS-01 spacecraft. The trio’s spacecraft completed the first flight to station for the upgraded Soyuz MS-01 when it launched in July.
The crew is scheduled to land at 11:59 p.m. southeast of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan.
Image above: The Soyuz MS-01 spacecraft rests at its Rassvet module docking port. The Expedition 49 crew members are inside the spacecraft preparing for their undocking and landing in Kazakhstan tonight. Image Credit: NASA TV.
As the Soyuz MS-01 undocked, Expedition 50 officially began on the station under the command of NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough. He and Flight Engineers Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko of Roscosmos, will operate the station for three weeks until the arrival of three new crew members next month
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Expedition 49 Departs from the ISS
NASA TV will air live coverage of the Soyuz MS-01 deorbit burn and landing beginning at 10:45 p.m. Watch live online on NASA’s website: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
To learn more about the International Space Station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station
Images (mentioned), Video, Text, Credits: NASA/NASA TV/Mark Garcia.
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