27/04/2012
In accordance with the schedule of the flight the International Space Station today at 12:18 GMT performed undocking of manned spacecraft Soyuz TMA-22 with the International Space Station (on the modulus of the "Search").
The Soyuz will perform a deorbit burn before the descent module separates from the rest of the Russian spacecraft and enters the Earth’s atmosphere. Afterwards, the Soyuz will deploy several parachutes slowing its descent and then fire three small engines to soften its landing in the steppe of Kazakhstan.
Image above: Expedition 31 Commander Oleg Kononenko (left) and Expedition 30 Commander Dan Burbank prepare to close the hatches between the International Space Station and the Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft. Credit: NASA.
A landing capsule with a crew consisting of commander Anton Shkaplerova (Roscosmos), Anatoly Ivanishin flight engineers (Roscosmos) and Daniel Burbank (NASA) is expected in 15 hours 45 minutes Moscow time 88 kilometers north-east of the town of Arkalyk in Kazakhstan.
Soyuz TMA-22 Undocking
After undock Soyuz TMA-22 from the Russian segment of ISS and prior to the arrival on board the next Expedition will continue to work on the orbiting crew consisting of Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, astronauts André Cowper (ESA) and Donald Pettit (NASA).
The new crewmates are completing their mission training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. They will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on May 15, and plan to stay in space until Sept. 17.
Original text in Russian: http://www.federalspace.ru/main.php?id=2&nid=19019
For more information about International Space Station (ISS), visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
Press-service of Federal Space Agency and the PCO (Roscosmos PAO) / NASA / NASA TV / Roscosmos TV / Translation: Orbiter.ch.
Greetings, Orbiter.ch
