Space station trio coming back to Earth later tonight

Two American astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut will depart the International Space Station tonight and return to Earth in a parachute-equipped Soyuz descent capsule after a half-year in orbit. Undocking comes at 01:22 a.m. Nov. 26, and touchdown in Kazakhstan is expected at 04:46 GMT.

Commander Doug Wheelock, Shannon Walker and Fyodor Yurchikhin are heading home after their tour-of-duty as part of Expeditions 24 and 25.

The trio will say their farewells to the station's other residents - the new Expedition 26 commander Scott Kelly, Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka - then float into the Soyuz TMA-19 craft currently docked to the station's Rassvet module and close the hatchway around 22:40 GMT.

Wheelock, Walker and Yurchikhin have been living on the station since June 17. Their departure begins the next rotation of crews and change of Expedition mission number.

Once the undocking happens, the station will be staffed by just Kelly, Kaleri and Skripochka until another Russian Soyuz spacecraft launches December 15 and docks two days later, boosting the crew back to the full size of six members with the addition of Catherine Coleman, Dmitry Kondratyev and Paolo Nespoli.

For me it will be another very interesting night shift at Columbus Control Center in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany.

Juan Martín Canales Romero

ISS Columbus Operations Coordinator