Three veteran space station fliers strapped into their Soyuz ferry craft, undocked and plunged back to Earth Sunday, making a fiery descent to a frigid pre-dawn landing in Kazakhstan to close out a 127-day stay in space.

Read our landing story.

All three Soyuz crew members look to be in good shape.

Japanese astronaut Aki Hoshide has exited the Soyuz after his second spaceflight to the International Space Station. He has accumulated 141 days in orbit, putting him third in the Japanese spaceflight endurance rankings.

Flight engineer and Soyuz co-pilot Suni Williams, now a veteran of 322 days in space on two flights, has been extracted from the capsule as well. She is sixth all-time on the U.S. endurance list and in second place in the women's rankings.

First to exit the capsule was Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, now a veteran of five spaceflights and a total of 642 days in orbit, placing him seventh all-time on the world's space endurance list.

The landing forces will erect the inflatable and heated medical tent where the Soyuz crew can remove their spacesuits and undergo preliminary exams.

The actual landing site is closer to the planned target than initial suspected based on re-entry timing.

It is 12 degrees F at the landing site with a wind chill around 0 degrees F.

The recovery team aboard a convoy of Russian helicopters is landing around the spacecraft to begin assisting the crew out of the capsule. The Soyuz came to rest on its side, which is not uncommon.

Recovery forces have spotted the beacon being emitted from the Soyuz.

TOUCHDOWN! The Soyuz TMA-05M capsule has landed in Kazakhstan, capping the 127-day voyage of NASA's Suni Williams, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Aki Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to the International Space Station.

Standing by for confirmation of touchdown.

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).

Yuri Malenchenko reports the max G-load was 4.3 Gs.

Now descending through 4,650 feet.

The cloud ceilings at the landing area are just 1,600 feet.

The eight choppers are repositioning to the new landing zone.

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 spacecraft is 11,800 feet in altitude.

The crew reports it feels fine.

Some of the re-entry events have been occurring about five seconds off schedule, which could result in the Soyuz landing about 22 miles off the targeted spot.

That fixed-wing aircraft serves as the central command for the search and recovery forces.

A fixed-wing aircraft flying as part of the recovery forces in the landing zone have established two-way communications with the crew and confirm parachute deploy.

Russian flight controllers have restored voice communications with the three-person crew. The trio reports all is going well in a nominal re-entry.

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.

Russian flight controllers lost voice communications with the crew several minutes ago. Although not unusual for a Soyuz re-entry, this lack of information means confirmation of mark events during descent is not possible.

The crew experience the period of maximum G-loads at this point during entry.

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

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 four 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-05M 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 separation distances to the capsule antennas, NASA says.

The Soyuz computers have been loaded with and enabled the commands to perform the pyrotechnic separation of the modules.

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.

The Soyuz flight path is crossing Africa now as the spacecraft falls back toward the atmosphere.

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

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 8:53 p.m. EST in north-central Kazakhstan, or 7:53 a.m. local time, about 62 minutes before sunrise.

All of the Russian search and recovery helicopters are airborne, flying out of staging points on race track patterns around the landing zone to await the Soyuz arrival just over an hour from now.

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 49 minutes away.

Good chamber pressure, good performance from the braking engines.

BURN IGNITION! Thrusters on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft are firing to brake from orbit. This deorbit burn is expected to last four minutes and 43 seconds to put the capsule on a course for the trip back to Earth.

Now one hour to touchdown.

Clocks are counting down to ignition of the deorbit burn at 7:58:58 p.m. EST. It will slow the Soyuz by 258 miles per hour.

Meteorologists report that no snow is falling at the landing site currently. But accumulation over the past two days has left about three inches of snow on the ground where Soyuz is headed.

The deorbit burn is coming up at 7:58:58 p.m. EST, a braking maneuver lasting 4 minutes and 43 seconds. Separation of the Soyuz modules is expected at 8:26 p.m. EST and entry interface at 8:29 p.m. The parachutes deploy at 8:38 p.m., leading to touchdown around 8:53 p.m. EST.

The International Space Station now belongs to the new Expedition 34 commander Kevin Ford and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeni Tarelkin flying as a three-person crew for the next couple of weeks before new members are launched on Dec. 19. They'll be joined by another American, a Russian and a Canadian astronaut when the next Soyuz arrives two days later.

The 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 7:58 p.m. EST.

The undocking occurred over northwestern China.

UNDOCKING. The Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft has separated from the space station after 125 days there, setting the stage for today's return to Earth with NASA's Suni Williams, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Japanese astronaut Aki Hoshide.

The undocking command has been issued. Hooks and latches holding the Soyuz and the station's Rassvet 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.

Frigid temperatures are forecast for the Kazakhstan landing zone where the Soyuz spacecraft will touch down at 8:53 p.m. EST. The latest outlook from the Spaceflight Meteorology Group based in Houston calls for a broken deck of clouds at 1,000 feet, overcast conditions at 3,000 feet, winds from the northwest at 7 knots, a temperature of 14 degrees F and wind chill of 0 to 5 degrees F.

The landing comes 62 minutes before sunrise, making the first nighttime Soyuz return since Expedition 12 in April 2006.

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 5:26 p.m. EST.

Suni Williams, Yuri Malenchenko and Aki Hoshide have boarded their Soyuz spacecraft for this evening's journey from the International Space Station to the landing site in Kazakhstan. The crew closed the hatchway between the station and capsule at 2:15 p.m. EST.

After turning command of the International Space Station to a fellow NASA astronaut, Suni Williams and her Japanese and Russia crewmates will complete their four-month mission aboard the complex Sunday and return to Earth in a parachute-equipped Soyuz descent capsule.

Touchdown in Kazakhstan is expected at 8:53 p.m. EST (0153 GMT Monday).

Williams, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Aki Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency are heading home after their tour-of-duty as part of Expeditions 32 and 33.

The trio will say their farewells to the station's other residents -- the new Expedition 34 commander Kevin Ford and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeni Tarelkin -- then float into the Soyuz TMA-05M craft currently docked to the station's Rassvet module and close the hatchway around 2:10 p.m. EST.

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.

Williams, Malenchenko and Hoshide have been living on the station since July 17. 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 Ford, Novitskiy and Tarelkin until another Russian Soyuz spacecraft launches Dec. 19 and docks two days later, boosting the crew back to the full size of six with the addition of Canada's Chris Hadfield, NASA's Tom Marshburn, Russia's Roman Romanenko.

Sunday's Soyuz departure activities begin when the command to open hooks and latches firmly holding the capsule to its docking port is sent at 5:23 p.m. EST (2223 GMT). Physical separation between the two craft occurs three minutes later at 5:26 p.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 at 5:29 p.m.

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 7:58 p.m. EDT (0058 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 48 seconds.

Shortly before reaching the top of the atmosphere, the Soyuz's three distinct modules will separate at 8:26 p.m. EST (0126 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 8:29 p.m. EST (0129 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 24 miles, as they feel the tug of Earth's gravity for the first time since launch.

At 8:38 p.m. (0138 GMT), the onboard computers will start a commanded sequence for deployment of the capsule's parachutes at an altitude of about 6.7 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 8:53 p.m. EST (0153 GMT) on the steppes of Kazakhstan. The target landing spot is 51.03 degrees North latitude and 67.09 degrees East longitude. The mission concludes with a duration of 126 days, 23 hours and 14 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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