A U.S. astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts are scheduled to return to Earth on April 10 after 173 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
U.S. Commander Shane Kimbrough and Russians Andrei Borisenko and Sergei Ryzhikov undocked their Soyuz MS-02 capsule from the ISS ahead of their scheduled landing in Kazakhstan at 5:21 p.m. local time (1121 GMT).
Astronaut Peggy Whitson assumed command of the $100 billion ISS from Kimbrough on April 10.
She will remain in command of two crewmembers, cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky and Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency.
The departing crewmembers will be replaced by astronaut Jack Fischer and cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, who are scheduled to launch April 20 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
Based on reporting by dpa and Reuters
