Watch the video above: ISS commander bids farewell to robotic companion
After six months in space, three crew members on the International Space Station are heading home.
Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA and Soyuz commander Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos, the Russian Federal Space Agency, will undock from the space station at 6:36 p.m. ET. They are set to land near Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan at 9:58 p.m. ET (7:58 a.m. May 14, local time).
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On Monday, Wakata — the first Japanese commander of the space station — handed over command to American NASA astronaut Steve Swanson.
Once the three crew members leave the ISS, Expedition 40 will officially start. The station will run with a three-member crew until Reid Wiseman of NASA, Max Suraev of Roscosmos and Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency arrive.
They are scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on May 28.
NASA will be airing the undocking and return of the crew on NASA TV beginning at 2 p.m. ET when the hatch on the Soyuz capsule closes.
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