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Expedition 17 crew undocks from station

Commander Sergei Volkov and Flight Engineer Oleg Kononenko, RN3DX, of the 17th International Space Station crew undocked from the orbiting laboratory at 8:16 p.m. EDT Thursday after more than six months in space.

Image above: The Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft carrying the Expedition 17 crew undocks from the International Space Station. Image credit: NASA TV

They launched April 8 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in the Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft that is bringing them back to Earth.

With Volkov and Kononenko at the beginning of their voyage home was spaceflight participant Richard Garriott, W5KWQ.
He launched to the station Oct. 12 with the Expedition 18 crew, Commander Mike Fincke, KE5AIT and Flight Engineer Yury Lonchakov, RA3DT, under contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency.

Landing is scheduled on the steppes of Kazakhstan at 11:37 p.m. Thursday