Monday, November 19, 2012

Space Station Crew Lands Tonight: Watch Live on SPACE.com

The space station crew will depart the space station on Sunday at 5:26 p.m. EST (2226 GMT) when a Russian Soyuz ferry ship unlocks from the orbiting lab. The Soyuz TMA-05M space capsule will land on the steppes of Kazakhstan at 8:53 p.m. EST (0153 Nov. 19 GMT).

The Soyuz spacecraft will return the core of the station's Expedition 33 mission crew back to Earth. Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko will command the Soyuz trip home. NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, who commands the Expedition 33 mission, and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide will also be returning home.

Williams will turn command of the International Space Station over to NASA astronaut Kevin Ford on Sunday, beginning the Expedition 34 mission. She, Malenchenko and Hoshide have lived on the space station since mid-July.

Here is the schedule of weekend events leading up to Sunday's landing:

Saturday, Nov. 17 (all times in EST):

2:15 p.m. -- Expedition 33/34 Change of Command Ceremony

Sunday, Nov. 18:

1:45 p.m. -- Farewells and hatch closure (hatch closure scheduled at 2:10 p.m.)
5:00 p.m. -- Undocking (undocking scheduled at 5:26 p.m.)
7:30 p.m. -- Deorbit burn and landing (deorbit burn scheduled at 7:58 p.m.; landing scheduled at 8:53 p.m.)
1:00 p.m. -- Video File of hatch closure, undocking and landing activities

Monday, Nov. 19:

10:00 a.m. -- Video File of post-landing activities and interviews 

Visit SPACE.com for live coverage of the International Space Station crew's landing and other space exploration news.

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