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.
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)