2 Russians, US astronaut leave ISS after 6 months

Three members of the Expedition 64 team ended their mission on the International Space Station on Friday and began preparations to return to Earth.

Flight Engineer Kate Rubins of NASA and two Roscosmos cosmonauts closed the hatch to the Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft where it will undock from the space-facing port of the station.

The ISS Commander Sergey Ryzhikov, handed over the ceremonial key to NASA astronaut Shannon Walker, who will now take command of the station.

The spacecraft is heading for a parachute-assisted landing at 12:56 a.m. (10:56 a.m. Kazakhstan time) Saturday, April 17, on the steppe of Kazakhstan, southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan.

The three crew members ended a 185-day mission spanning 2,960 orbits of Earth and 78.4 million miles.

Rubins is completing her second flight, with 300 cumulative days in space.