Strapped into a cramped Soyuz ferry craft, outgoing space station commander Daniel Burbank and two Russian cosmonauts, Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin, undocked from the International Space Station early Friday and plunged back to Earth to close out a five-and-a-half-month stay in space.

Read our landing story.

With Burbank, Shkaplerov and Ivanishin back on the planet safe and sound, the International Space Station continues to circle Earth with the new Expedition 31 crew of commander Oleg Kononenko of Russia, NASA's Don Pettit and Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers.

Another three-person crew -- Russia's Gennady Padalka, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Revin and NASA's Joe Acaba -- will launch aboard a Soyuz from Baikonur Cosmodrome on May 14 at 11:01 p.m. EDT and reach the space station May 17 at 12:39 a.m. EDT to boost the outpost's resident team to the full size of six members.

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

All three space fliers appear in good shape after their landing. They'll be choppered to the Kazakh city of Kustanai for a traditional welcoming ceremony, then Shkaplerov and Ivanishin will take a plane back to Star City outside Moscow. Burbank will board a NASA aircraft for the long flight to Houston later today.

NASA astronaut Dan Burbank has exited the Soyuz after his third spaceflight to the International Space Station. He has accumulated 189 days in orbit.

Burbank, a two-time space shuttle astronaut and retired captain in the U.S. Coast Guard, flew on shuttle Atlantis' STS-106 mission in 2000 and STS-115 in 2006. He became the station's commander during Expedition 30.

Read his full bio.

Flight engineer and Soyuz co-pilot Anatoly Ivanishin, a lieutenant colonel in the Russian air force has been extracted from the capsule after his first spaceflight. He is now being seated outside in a reclining chair.

Read his full bio.

First to exit the capsule was Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, commander of the Soyuz spacecraft during launch and landing.

Shkaplerov is a colonel in the Russian air force and now a veteran of one spaceflight with 165 days to his credit.

Read his full bio.

The landing forces 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 touching down around the spacecraft to begin assisting the crew out of the capsule. The Soyuz came to rest on its side, which is not uncommon.

TOUCHDOWN! The Soyuz TMA-22 capsule has landed in Kazakhstan, capping the 165-day voyage of NASA astronaut Dan Burbank and Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin to the International Space Station.

At an altitude of about 12 meters, cockpit displays will tell the cosmonauts 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 (3.35 mph).

Now 2,000 feet above the ground.

Now five minutes to touchdown as Soyuz descends to Kazakhstan under its main parachute.

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.

The recovery forces in the landing zone have established two-way communications with the crew.

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.

The International Space Station flight controllers report parachute deploy sequence has begun. Also, the spacecraft is on the nominal trajectory with no down-mode to a ballistic reentry.

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.

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.

Module separation has occurred, Mission Control reports.

The three segments of the Soyuz TMA-22 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.

Still awaiting confirmation of module separation. Very limited communications are expected from the Soyuz during today's descent given the higher altitude of the International Space Station and the larger distances to the capsule, NASA says.

Time to touchdown is now 30 minutes.

In about three 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.

The crew members, already strapped into their seats, have closed their helmet visors.

A map illustrating the planned landing site is posted on our Spaceflight Now's Facebook page.

Mission Control reports all of the deorbit burn parameters looked good. The spacecraft is headed home.

BURN COMPLETE! The Soyuz has performed its braking maneuver, committing the craft for entry into the atmosphere. Touchdown is about 51 minutes away.

BURN IGNITION! Thrusters on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft are firing to brake from orbit. This deorbit burn is expected to last four minutes and 18 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 6:49:37 a.m. EDT. It will slow the Soyuz by 258 miles per hour.

The deorbit burn is coming up at 6:49 a.m. EDT, a braking maneuver lasting 4 minutes and 18 minutes. Separation of the Soyuz modules is expected at 7:18 a.m. and entry interface at 7:21 a.m. The parachutes deploy at 7:30 a.m., leading to touchdown around 7:45 a.m. EDT.

Soyuz has been drifting toward a point about 12 miles away from the space station for the deorbit burn that is coming up in 15 minutes.

The International Space Station now belongs to the new Expedition 31 commander Oleg Kononenko of Russia, NASA's Don Pettit and Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers flying as a three-person crew for the next couple of weeks before new members are launched on May 14. They'll be joined by another American and two Russians when the next Soyuz arrives on May 17.

The 15-second separation firing by the Soyuz's thrusters has been completed to accelerate the spacecraft's departure from the International Space Station. The capsule will be several miles away when it performs the deorbit burn today at 6:49 a.m. EDT.

The undocking occurred 247 miles over northwestern China.

UNDOCKING. The Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft has separated from the space station after 163 days there, setting the stage for today's return to Earth with NASA astronaut Dan Burbank and Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin.

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

Soyuz's docking mechanism is powered up and the station's thrusters are inhibited for the upcoming undocking event.

In the next few minutes, the International Space Station will be placed into a "free drift" mode in preparation for the Soyuz departure. The complex has been maneuvered into the proper orientation for undocking.

The homeward-bound crew has worked together for the past 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 don their Sokol spacesuits. Undocking is set for 4:18 a.m. EDT.

Dan Burbank, Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin have boarded their Soyuz spacecraft for today's journey from the International Space Station to the landing site in Kazakhstan. The crew closed the hatchway between the station and capsule at 1:12 a.m. EDT.

A three-man crew from NASA and Russia will complete its half-year mission aboard the International Space Station and return to Earth in a parachute-equipped Soyuz descent capsule early Friday.

Touchdown in Kazakhstan is expected at 7:45 a.m. EDT (1145 GMT).

Station commander Dan Burbank and Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin are heading home after their tour-of-duty as part of Expeditions 29 and 30.

The trio will say their farewells to the station's other residents -- the new Expedition 31 commander Oleg Kononenko of Russia, NASA's Don Pettit and Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers -- then float into the Soyuz TMA-22 craft currently docked to the station's Poisk module and close the hatchway around 1 a.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.

Burbank, Shkaplerov and Ivanishin have been living on the station since Nov. 16. Their departure continues the next rotation of crews and change of Expedition mission number.

Once the undocking happens, the station will be staffed by just Kononenko, Pettit and Kuipers until another Russian Soyuz spacecraft launches May 14 and docks two days later, boosting the crew back to the full size of six with the addition of Russia's Gennady Padalka, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Revin and NASA's Joe Acaba.

Friday's Soyuz departure activities begin when the command to open hooks and latches firmly holding the capsule to its docking port is sent at 4:15 a.m. EDT (0815 GMT). Physical separation between the two craft occurs three minutes later at 4:18 a.m.

After moving a short distance from the station, the Soyuz engines will fire for 15 seconds to begin propelling 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 6:49:37 a.m. EDT (1049:37 GMT) that slows the ship by 258 miles per hour, just enough to slip out of orbit for the return to Earth. The burn will last 4 minutes and 18 seconds.

Shortly before reaching the top of the atmosphere, the Soyuz's three distinct modules will separate at 7:18:07 a.m. EDT (1118:07 GMT). 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 7:21:25 a.m. EDT (1121:25 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 7:30:42 a.m. (1130:42 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 7:45:06 a.m. EST (1145:06 GMT) on the steppes of Kazakhstan. The target landing spot is 51.01 degrees North latitude and 67.11 degrees East longitude. The mission concludes with a duration of 165 days, 7 hours and 31 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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