The Soyuz TMA-17 crew capsule, carrying outgoing space station commander Oleg Kotov, Timothy Creamer and Soichi Noguchi, settled to a safe parachute-and-rocket-assisted landing in Kazakhstan Tuesday after a descent from the International Space Station.

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With Kotov, Creamer and Noguchi back on the planet safe and sound, the International Space Station continues to circle Earth with the new Expedition 24 crew of Russian commander Alexander Skvortsov, cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko and American astronaut Tracy Caldwell-Dyson.

Another three-person crew -- NASA's Doug Wheelock and Shannon Walker, plus Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin -- will launch aboard a Soyuz from Baikonur Cosmodrome on June 15 at 5:35 p.m. EDT and reach the space station June 17 to boost the outpost's resident team to the full size of six members.

The station partners have begun employing "indirect crew handovers" that see the returning members land a couple of weeks prior to their replacements launching.

An on-target and safe landing for the Soyuz spacecraft, a NASA spokesman at the touchdown spot says.

All three space fliers are looking healthy and happy. They'll be choppered to a nearby Kazakh city, then Kotov will take a plane back to Star City outside Moscow. Creamer and Noguchi will board a NASA aircraft for the long flight to Houston, with arrival expected around 11 p.m. Central Time Tuesday night.

T.J. Creamer, the NASA astronaut and Army helicopter pilot with a master's degree in physics, has been extracted from the Soyuz after his first spaceflight. He's now seated outside in a reclining chair next to Kotov and Noguchi.

Soichi Noguchi, an aeronautical engineer representing the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, has exited the Soyuz after this second trip to the International Space Station. Including his earlier space shuttle ride, he's now accumulated 177 days in space.

Oleg Kotov has been assisted out of the capsule's center seat. The Russian air force colonel and specialist in space medicine is back on Earth from his second Expedition mission to the International Space Station. He's now logged 360 days in space.

The recovery team will erect the inflatable medical tent where the Soyuz crew can remove their spacesuits and undergo preliminary exams.

The recovery team aboard a convoy of Russian helicopters is arriving at the Soyuz to begin assisting the crew out of the capsule. The Soyuz appears to have come to rest on its side, which is not uncommon.

The official landing time has been marked at 11:25 p.m. EDT.

LANDING CONFIRMED! The Russian Soyuz TMA-17 capsule has landed in Kazakhstan, capping the 163-day voyage of Oleg Kotov, T.J. Creamer and Soichi Noguchi to the International Space Station.

Standing by for confirmation of touchdown.

At an altitude of about 12 meters, cockpit displays will tell cosmonaut Oleg Kotov to prepare for the soft landing engine firing. Just one meter above the surface, and just seconds before touchdown, the six solid propellant engines are fired in a final braking maneuver, enabling the Soyuz to land to complete its mission, settling down at a velocity of about 1.5 meters per second.

Recovery forces now report a visual sighting of the incoming Soyuz. The capsule is descending under its main parachute.

Now five minutes to the planned touchdown time in Kazakhstan.

At an altitude of five kilometers, the module's heat shield is scheduled to be jettisoned. This is followed by the termination of the aerodynamic spin cycle and the dumping of any residual propellant from the Soyuz. Computers also will arm the module's seat shock absorbers in preparation for landing.

With the jettisoning of the capsule's heat shield, the Soyuz altimeter is exposed to the surface of the Earth. Using a reflector system, signals are bounced to the ground from the Soyuz and reflected back, providing the capsule's computers updated information on altitude and rate of descent.

Recovery forces flying in the landing zone report acquisition of the Soyuz's transponder communications signal.

Once the drogue chute is jettisoned, the main parachute is deployed. It is connected to the Descent Module by two harnesses, covers an area of about 1,000 square meters and slows descent to 7.2 meters/second.

Initially, the Descent Module will hang underneath the main parachute at a 30-degree angle with respect to the horizon for aerodynamic stability, but the bottommost harness will be severed a few minutes before landing, allowing the Descent Module to hang vertically through touchdown.

Onboard computers should be starting a commanded sequence for deployment of the capsule's parachutes at an altitude of about 10 kilometers. Two "pilot" parachutes are unfurled first, extracting a 24-square-meter drogue parachute. Within 16 seconds, the craft's fall will slow from 230 meters per second to about 80 m/s.

The parachute deployment creates a gentle spin for the Soyuz as it dangles underneath the drogue chute, assisting in the capsule's stability in the final minutes before touchdown.

The crew should be experiencing the period of maximum G-loads during entry.

Twenty minutes to landing. The Soyuz is making its fiery plunge into the atmosphere now.

Entry Interface. The Soyuz is now hitting the upper fringes of the atmosphere at an altitude of 400,000 feet. The Expedition crew will soon begin to feel the first tugs of Earth's gravity after six months in space.

The entry guidance by the spacecraft's onboard software package is scheduled to start in a couple of minutes.

A successful module separation has occurred, Mission Control says.

The three segments of the Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft have jettisoned apart, allowing the crew-carrying Descent Module to safely ferry the three crew members back to Earth. The no-longer-needed Orbital Module and Instrumentation/Propulsion Module are designed to burn up in the atmosphere.

Mission Control says everything looks good aboard the Soyuz and activities are proceeding as planned tonight.

Time to touchdown is now 30 minutes.

In about five minutes at an altitude of 87 miles, just above the first traces of the Earth's atmosphere, computers will command the separation of the three modules that comprise the Soyuz vehicle. With the crew strapped in to the Descent Module, the forward Orbital Module containing the docking mechanism and rendezvous antennas and the rear Instrumentation/Propulsion Module, which houses the engines and avionics, will pyrotechnically separate and burn up in the atmosphere.

The Descent Module's computers will orient the capsule with its ablative heat shield pointing forward to repel the buildup of heat as it plunges into the atmosphere. Entry interface at the upper fringes of the atmosphere, when the capsule is about 400,000 feet above the Earth, happens about three minutes after module separation.

Now crossing Africa.

BURN COMPLETE! The Soyuz has performed its braking maneuver, committing the craft for entry into the atmosphere. Touchdown is about 45 minutes away.

The craft is flying backward over the south-central Atlantic Ocean on a northeasterly trajectory bound for Africa and eventually Asia where landing is expected at 11:24 p.m. EDT in north-central Kazakhstan, or 9:24 a.m. local time.

BURN IGNITION! Thrusters on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft are firing to brake from orbit. This deorbit burn is expected to last four minutes and 21 seconds to put the capsule on a course for the trip back to Earth.

Clocks are counting down to ignition of the deorbit burn at 10:34:40 p.m. EDT. It will slow the Soyuz by 258 miles per hour, according to Mission Control.

Command of the International Space Station now belongs to the new Expedition 24 commander Alexander Skvortsov, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko and American astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson. They'll be joined by two more Americans and a Russian when the next Soyuz docks on June 17.

The 15-second separation firing by the Soyuz's thrusters has been completed to accelerate the spacecraft's departure from the outpost. The deorbit burn is coming up at 10:34 p.m., with landing in Kazakhstan still expected at 11:24 p.m. EDT.

UNDOCKING. The Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft has separated from the space station after 161 days there, setting the stage for tonight's return to Earth. The undocking occurred 215 miles over Mongolia.

The undocking command has been issued. Hooks and latches holding the station's Zvezda service module and Soyuz tightly together are being opened now.

Soyuz's docking mechanism has been powered up. The station's thrusters have been inhibited for the upcoming undocking event.

The International Space Station has passed into an orbital sunrise. In the next few minutes, the complex will be placed into a "free drift" mode in preparation for the Soyuz departure.

Oleg Kotov, T.J. Creamer and Soichi Noguchi have boarded their Soyuz spacecraft for tonight's journey from the International Space Station to the landing site in Kazakhstan. The crew confirmed at 4:54 p.m. EDT that the hatchway between the station and capsule was closed.

Undocking remains scheduled for 8:04 p.m. EDT. The deorbit burn lasting 4 minutes and 21 seconds starts 10:34:40 and lasts until 10:39:01 p.m. EDT, leading to separation of the Soyuz modules at 10:58:36 p.m. and 11:01:43 p.m. EDT. Touchdown is expected at 11:24 p.m. EDT.

Tonight's re-entry and landing timeline has shifted a few minutes earlier than previously advertised. Undocking of the Soyuz from the International Space Station now occurs at 8:04 p.m. EDT, the deorbit burn begins at 10:34 p.m. EDT and touchdown time in Kazakhstan is targeted for 11:24 p.m. EDT.

The International Space Station's current Russian commander, a NASA astronaut and their Japanese crewmate will return to Earth on Tuesday, capping a half-year in orbit by landing in a parachute-equipped Soyuz descent capsule.

Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, a doctor specializing in space medicine, American astronaut T.J. Creamer, an Army helicopter pilot with degrees in chemistry and physics, and Soichi Noguchi, an engineer and veteran astronaut from the Japanese space agency, are heading home after their tour-of-duty as part of Expeditions 22 and 23.

The trio will say their farewells to the station's other residents -- the new Expedition 24 commander Alexander Skvortsov, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko and American astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson -- then floating into the Soyuz TMA-17 craft currently docked to the station's Zvezda module and close the hatchway at 4:50 p.m. EDT.

The homeward-bound crew will work together for a next couple of hours to power up the Soyuz, active the craft's systems, remove docking clamps, depressurize the vestibule between the capsule and station and perform other work to ready for undocking.

Kotov, Creamer and Noguchi have been living on the station since December 22. Their departure begins the next rotation of crews and change of Expedition mission number.

Once Tuesday's undocking happens, the station will be staffed by just Skvortsov, Kornienko and Caldwell Dyson until another Russian Soyuz spacecraft launches on June 15 and docks two days later, boosting the crew back to the full size of six with the addition of NASA's Doug Wheelock and Shannon Walker, plus cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin.

Tuesday's Soyuz departure activities begin when the command to open hooks and latches firmly holding the capsule to its docking port is sent at 8:05 p.m. EDT (0005 GMT). Physical separation between the two craft occurs three minutes later at 8:08 p.m.

After moving a short distance from the station, the Soyuz engines will fire for 15 seconds to execute the so-called separation burn to propel the craft out of the orbiting lab's vicinity.

About two-and-a-half hours later, the capsule's engines will ignite for the deorbit burn to brake from space. The onboard computers will initiate an engine firing at 10:37 p.m. EDT (0237 GMT) that slows the ship just enough to slip out of orbit for the return to Earth. The burn will last four minutes and 23 seconds.

Shortly before reaching the top of the atmosphere, the Soyuz's three distinct modules will separate at 11:00 p.m. EDT (0300 GMT) under computer command. The crew will be located in the Descent Module, which is sandwiched between the forward Orbital Module containing the docking mechanism and the rear Instrumentation and Propulsion Module housing the engines and avionics.

The Descent Module orients itself to point the ablative heat shield in the direction of travel to protect the craft and crew from the intense plunge back to Earth. At 11:04 p.m. (0304 GMT) and an altitude of 63 miles, the moment of Entry Interface occurs as the capsule hits the upper fringes of the atmosphere for the fiery re-entry.

During the fall to Earth, the Orbital Module and Instrumentation and Propulsion Module will burn up in the atmosphere.

About seven minutes after Entry Interface, the crew will experience the period of maximum G-loads during entry at an altitude of 20 miles, as they feel the tug of Earth's gravity for the first time since launch.

At 11:12 p.m. (0312 GMT), the onboard computers will start a commanded sequence for deployment of the capsule's parachutes at an altitude of about 6.6 miles. Two "pilot" parachutes are unfurled first, extracting a drogue parachute.

The parachute deployment creates a gentle spin for the Soyuz as it dangles underneath the drogue chute, assisting in the capsule's stability in the final minutes before touchdown.

The drogue chute will be jettisoned, allowing the main parachute to be deployed. It is connected to the Descent Module by two harnesses.

Initially, the Descent Module will hang underneath the main parachute at a 30-degree angle with respect to the horizon for aerodynamic stability, but the bottommost harness will be severed a few minutes before landing, allowing the Descent Module to hang vertically through touchdown.

At an altitude of just over three miles, the heat shield will be cast free. That is followed by dumping of any residual propellant from the Soyuz.

Once the heat shield is gone, the Soyuz altimeter is exposed to the surface of the Earth. Using a reflector system, signals are bounced to the ground from the Soyuz and reflected back, providing the capsule's computers updated information on altitude and rate of descent.

At an altitude of about 40 feet, cockpit displays will tell the crew to prepare for the soft landing engine firing. Just seconds before touchdown, the six solid propellant engines are fired in a final braking maneuver, enabling the Soyuz to land to complete its mission.

Touchdown is expected at 11:27 p.m. EDT (0327 GMT) on the steppes of central Kazakhstan. The target landing spot is 47.2 degrees North latitude and 69.35 degrees East longitude. The mission concludes with a duration of 163 days, 5 hours and 35 minutes.

A group of Russian helicopters carrying the recovery forces should arrive soon after landing to help the crew exit the capsule.

Each crew member will be placed in special reclining chairs near the capsule for initial medical tests and begin readapting to Earth's gravity. They will be transferred into a portable medical tent erected near the touchdown point where the three crew members can remove their spacesuits.

Post-landing plans call for the crew to be flown from the site in helicopters.

Watch this page for live updates during the undocking and landing.

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