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STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION
The Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft lands in Kazakhstan. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Two cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut undocked from the International Space Station and plunged back to Earth early Saturday, landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan amid preparations in Florida for launch of another station-bound crew Thursday aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.
Crew Says Farewell, Enters Soyuz and Prepares to Undock
The hatch closing between the Soyuz MS-17 and station in preparation for the undocking of Expedition 64 crew. Credit: NASA TV
At 6:24 p.m. EDT, the hatch closed between the Soyuz spacecraft and the International Space Station in preparation for undocking. NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov of Roscosmos are scheduled to undock their Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft at 9:34 p.m.
NASA Television will air live coverage of the undocking beginning at 9:15 p.m., with coverage of the Soyuz deorbit burn and landing beginning at 11:30 p.m. Their landing in Kazakhstan is targeted for approximately 12:56 a.m. (10:56 a.m. Kazakhstan time) Saturday, April 17.
Russian spacecraft from ISS with three crewmates lands in Kazakhstan
MOSCOW, 17th April, 2021 (WAM) The Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft, which undocked at night from the International Space Station (ISS) with two Russian cosmonauts and one U.S. astronaut on board, landed safely in Kazakhstan on Saturday, according to a broadcast by Russia s Roscosmos state space corporation.
The spacecraft crew includes Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, as well as US astronaut Kathleen Rubins, said a Sputnik report on Saturday. They had lived and worked six months aboard the International Space Station, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the U.S.
SpaceX Crew Dragon launch preparations in full swing with pre-dawn test firing By William Harwood
April 17, 2021 / 4:19 PM / CBS News
Just five hours after a Russian Soyuz capsule brought three space station flyers back to Earth in Kazakhstan, SpaceX test fired the first stage engines of a Falcon 9 rocket in Florida early Saturday to clear the way for Thursday s planned launch of another four station-bound astronauts.
The Falcon 9, carrying a Crew Dragon commercial astronaut ferry ship, was hauled atop the historic 39A launch pad on Friday, a few hours before the rocket s three-man, one-woman crew arrived at the Kennedy Space Center to begin final launch preparations.