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Astronauts set to return to earth from ISS on spacecraft

Three astronauts will depart the International Space Station (ISS) and fly back to Earth, US space agency NASA said in a statement on Thursday. 

At around midnight Friday (CEST), NASA astronauts Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka undocked the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft from the ISS, which is 408 kilometres above the Earth.

On Thursday evening, the crew conducted a change of command ceremony in which Skripochka ceremonially handed control of the orbiting laboratory to newly-arrived NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy.  

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NASA TV will provide coverage during the de-orbit burn, which is scheduled for 6:22 am (CEST) Friday.

The Soyuz spacecraft will then be on course for a parachute-assisted landing at 7:16 am (CEST) in a grassland plain in Kazakhstan, south-east of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan. (dpa)

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