Space Station Trio Prepares for Wednesday Departure

The Soyuz TMA-12M 40th Expedition Landing (Photo)
Hatches Closed Between Soyuz TMA-12M & ISS As Crew Depart for Earth (Video)

NASA astronaut Steve Swanson handed over command of the International Space Station to Max Suraev Tuesday at 5:15 p.m. EDT.

Expedition 40/41 Change of Command Aboard Station

Three International Space Station crew members are set to return to Earth this week after living and working in space for nearly half a year. The journey home will begin for Aleksandr Skvortsov, Oleg Artemyev and Steve Swanson on Wednesday when their Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft undocks from the Poisk module of the Space Station. Undocking is planned at 23:01 UTC followed by one and a half orbits of free flight to set up for the deorbit burn leading up to a parachute assisted landing in the steppe of Kazakhstan at 2:23 UTC on Thursday.

Landing Profile

UTC	Undock +/-	Landing +/-	Event
			Soyuz Loading Complete
			Communication Reconfig for Undock
			Comm Checks
			Soyuz Activation
19:40:00	-03:21:30		Hatch Closure
22:21:00	-00:50:00		ISS hands to RS Control
22:26:00	-00:45:00		ISS Maneuver to Undocking Attitude
22:59:00	-00:02:30		ISS Control to Free Drift Mode
23:00:00	-00:01:30		Command Undocking Sequence
23:01:30	00:00:00		Physical Separation
22:03:10	+00:01:40		LVLH Snap&Hold
23:04:30	+00:03:00		Range: 20 Meters; Sep. Burn #1
23:10:00	+00:08:30		ISS Maneuver to nominal Attitude
00:00:00	+00:58:30		ISS to USOS Control
01:00:00	+01:58:30		Sunrise at Landing Site
01:30:36	+02:29:06	-0:53:03	Deorbit Burn Duration: 4:41, dV: 128.0m/s
01:35:16	+02:33:46	-0:48:23	End Deorbit Burn (423.0km, 7.23km/s)
01:50:18	+02:48:48	-0:33:21	Equator Crossing
01:58:00	+02:56:30	-0:25:39	Entering Daylight
01:58:21	+02:56:51	-0:25:16	Module Separation (139.8km, 7.57km/s)
02:01:15	+02:59:45	-0:22:24	Entry Interface (99.5km, 7.62km/s)
02:02:47	+03:01:17	-0:20:52	Entry Guidance enabled (80.2km, 7.62km/s)
02:08:13	+03:06:43	-0:15:26	Peak G Load – 3.84G (35.7km, 2.36km/s)
02:09:38	+03:08:08	-0:14:01	Parachute Opening Command (10.7km, 218m/s)
02:23:37	+03:22:07	-0:00:02	Soft Landing Engine Ignition
02:23:39	+03:22:09	00:00:00	TOUCHDOWN
04:23:00	~+05:22	~+02:00	Crew departs Landing Site

Landing on-line:

Oleg Artemyev’s blog: /en/mks/mks-online/

Roskosmos: http://www.federalspace.ru/316/

NASA TV: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/

MCC: http://www.mcc.rsa.ru/

TV Russia 24: http://www.vesti.ru/