Space Crew Prepares for Return to Earth

KOSTANAI, Kazakhstan – A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying a U.S.-Russian-Dutch crew undocked early Friday from the international space station, beginning a swift return to Earth.

The undocking took place at 4:52 p.m. EST, according to footage from the Soyuz shown at Russian mission control outside Moscow.

The snug Soyuz TMA-3 capsule is carrying American astronaut Michael Foale and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri, who spent some six months on the ISS, and European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers of the Netherlands, who is returning after a nine-day mission on the station.