Crew Leaves Station After 186 Days in Space

After spending 186 days aboard the International Space Station, Tim Kopra, Tim Peake and Yuri Malenchenko undocked from the station at 1:52 a.m. EDT 254 miles over eastern Mongolia to begin their voyage home. Malenchenko is at the controls of the Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft.

They will perform a separation burn to increase the distance from the station before executing a 4-minute, 37-second deorbit burn at 4:22 a.m. The crew is scheduled to land at 5:14 a.m. southeast of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan.

The trio’s departure marks the end of Expedition 47. The Expedition 48 crew members, Commander Jeff Williams of NASA, along with his crewmates Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin, will continue research and maintenance aboard the station. NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin and Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, will join them next month.

NASA Television will air live coverage of the Soyuz TMA-19M deorbit burn and landing beginning at 4 a.m.

Below is the remaining timeline for Expedition 47’s landing.

Saturday, June 18 (all times Eastern)

4 a.m.                         NASA TV: Expedition 47 Soyuz TMA-19M deorbit burn and landing coverage

4:22 a.m.                    Soyuz TMA-19m deorbit burn (4 minutes, 37 seconds duration)

4:26 a.m.                    Soyuz deorbit burn complete

4:49 a.m.                    Soyuz module separation (altitude 87 miles)

4:52 a.m.                    Soyuz atmospheric entry (altitude 62 miles)

5:00 a.m.                    Command to open parachute (6.7 miles)

5:14 a.m.                 Expedition 47 Soyuz TMA-19M landing southeast of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan