MINSK, 2 June (BelTA-TASS) - The Soyuz MS-03 spacecraft with two crew members on board has departed from the International Space Station (ISS) and will return to Earth soon, BelTA learned from TASS.
The two men returning on board the Soyuz MS-03 spacecraft are the Belarusian native Oleg Novitsky and the French cosmonaut Thomas Pesquet, a spokesman for Russia's Mission Control Center told TASS. The Soyuz MS-03 mission began on 17 November 2016. The crew members have spent 197 days in orbit.
The descent capsule is expected to land at 17:10 Minsk time 147 kilometers southeast of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan.
NASA astronauts Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer along with Russia’s cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin will continue their stay aboard the orbital complex.
Oleg Novitsky was born in the town of Cherven, Minsk Oblast. It was the second space mission for Oleg Novitsky.