KOROLYOV (Moscow region). Dec 11 (Interfax-AVN) - The Soyuz TMA-17M spacecraft with Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, U.S. astronaut Kjell Lindgren and Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui has undocked from the International Space Station (ISS), a source with the Russian Mission Control Center told Interfax-AVN.
"The spacecraft undocked from the station," the source said.
Soyuz' autonomous flight will last for several hours. The spaceship will enter dense layers of the Earth atmosphere at 3:49 p.m. Moscow time and will land in steppe outside Kazakhstan's town of Jezkazgan at 4:13 p.m. Moscow time.
Two Russian cosmonauts, Mikhail Korniyenko and Sergei Volkov, and U.S. astronaut Scott Kelly will continue working aboard the ISS until the next ISS expedition arrives.
It was reported earlier that Russian cosmonaut Yury Melenchenko, U.S. astronaut Timothy Kopra and European astronaut Timothy Peake will fly to the ISS on December 15. A Progress-MS cargo spacecraft is to fly to the ISS for the first time ever on December 21.