A Russian Soyuz spacecraft plunged back into the atmosphere Monday evening, carrying three space station crew members through a fiery descent to a frigid pre-dawn landing in Kazakhstan to close out a five-and-a-half-month stay in space.

Read our landing story.

Additional coverage for subscribers:
VIDEO: BACK AT STAR CITY PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: POST-FLIGHT CHAT WITH MIKE FOSSUM PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: TRADITIONAL KAZAKH WELCOMING CEREMONY PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: VIEW OUT THE WINDOW OF DEPARTING SOYUZ PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: SOYUZ TMA-02M UNDOCKS FROM SPACE STATION PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CREW BOARDS SOYUZ AND CLOSES HATCHWAY PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: EXPEDITION CHANGE OF COMMAND CEREMONY PLAY | HI-DEF
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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 Volkov will take a plane back to Star City outside Moscow. Fossum and Furukawa will board a NASA aircraft for the long flight to Houston later Tuesday.

The official landing time has been marked by the Russians as 9:26 p.m. EST.

More pictures from today's Soyuz landing and a map illustrating where the capsule returned to Earth are posted on our Spaceflight Now's Facebook page.

Flight engineer and Soyuz co-pilot Satoshi Furukawa, a medical doctor from Japan has been extracted from the capsule after his first spaceflight. He is now being seated outside in a reclining chair next to the crewmates.

Read his full bio.

NASA astronaut Mike Fossum has exited the Soyuz after his third spaceflight to the International Space Station. He has accumulated 194 days in orbit.

Fossum, 53, a two-time space shuttle astronaut, flew on Discovery's STS-121 mission in 2006 and STS-124 in 2008.

Read his full bio.

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

Volkov, 38, is a colonel in the Russian air force and now a veteran of two spaceflights with 366 days to his credit.

Read his full bio.

During a previous Soyuz landing, Mike Fossum had commented: "There's a lot of advantages to landing on your side. You don't have to hoist yourself up through that hatch."

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.

LANDING CONFIRMED! The Soyuz TMA-02M capsule has landed in Kazakhstan, capping the 167-day voyage of Mike Fossum, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov and Japan's Satoshi Furukawa 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).

Visual spotting of the Soyuz is reported by the recovery forces and they confirm the Soyuz is descending under its parachute.

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.

Soyuz is operating properly on the automatic sequence. A downmode to the ballistic phase that has happened in the past did not happen tonight.

The crew is reporting that they themselves and the spacecraft are doing well.

A fixed-wing aircraft flying as part of the recovery forces in the landing zone have established two-way communications with the crew and report the returning spacemen say they are doing fine.

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.

Russian Mission Control outside Moscow reports parachute deploy has occurred.

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 have restored voice communications with the three-man crew. The trio reports all is going well.

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

Live streaming video from International Space Station looking down at the re-entering Soyuz capsule!

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, NASA reports.

The three segments of the Soyuz TMA-02M 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.

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

Time to touchdown is now 30 minutes.

In about four 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 now 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 are 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 49 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 9:25 p.m. EST in north-central Kazakhstan, or 8:25 a.m. local time, about 33 minutes before sunrise.

BURN IGNITION! Thrusters on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft are firing to brake from orbit. This deorbit burn is expected to last four minutes and 16 seconds to put the capsule on a course for the trip back to Earth.

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 an hour from now.

Clocks are counting down to ignition of the deorbit burn at 8:32 p.m. EST. It will slow the Soyuz by 257 miles per hour.

Soyuz has been drifting toward a point about 7.5 miles away from the space station for the deorbit burn that is coming up in 20 minutes.

At the landing site in north-central Kazakhstan, temperatures are a frigid 5 degrees F with light snow on the ground and gusty winds. The expected wind chill between -10 and -20 degrees F is expected at landing time.

The deorbit burn is coming up at 8:32 p.m. EST, a braking maneuver lasting 4 minutes and 16 minutes. Separation of the Soyuz modules is expected at 8:59 p.m. and entry interface at 9:02 p.m. The parachutes deploy at 9:10 p.m., leading to touchdown around 9:25 p.m. EST.

The International Space Station now belongs to the new Expedition 30 commander Dan Burbank and Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin flying a three-person crew for the next month before new members are launched on Dec. 21. They'll be joined by another American, a Russian and an European astronaut when the next Soyuz arrives on Dec. 23.

The 20-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 about 7.5 miles away when it performs the deorbit burn tonight at 8:32 p.m. EST.

The crew is testing the responsiveness of the digital systems through the cockpit hand-controllers.

Soyuz has reached a stationkeeping point about 165 feet away from the outpost to conduct the digital autopilot tests.

The digital autopilot aboard the modernized Soyuz has been activated. The capsule's backaway from the station will be paused briefly for a checkout of the system before a final separation engine burn is executed.

The undocking occurred 252 miles over northern China near the Mongolian border.

UNDOCKING. The Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft has separated from the space station after 165 days there, setting the stage for tonight's return to Earth with NASA astronaut Mike Fossum, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov and Japan's Satoshi Furukawa.

The undocking command has been issued. Hooks and latches holding the Soyuz and the station's Rassvet mini research 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 6:00 p.m. EDT.

Mike Fossum, Sergei Volkov and Satoshi Furukawa have boarded their Soyuz spacecraft for tonight's journey from the International Space Station to the landing site in Kazakhstan. The crew confirmed at 2:41 p.m. EDT that the hatchway between the station and capsule was closed.

A three-man crew from NASA, Russia and Japan will complete their half-year mission aboard the International Space Station late Monday and return to Earth in a parachute-equipped Soyuz descent capsule.

Touchdown in Kazakhstan is expected at 9:25 p.m. EST (0225 GMT), where several inches of snow will be on the ground and bone-chilling temperatures of 4 degrees F and wind chills of -20 degrees F will greet the crew.

Commander Mike Fossum, cosmonaut Sergei Volkov and Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa are heading home after their tour-of-duty as part of Expeditions 28 and 29.

The trio will say their farewells to the station's other residents -- the new Expedition 30 commander Dan Burbank and Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin -- then float into the Soyuz TMA-02M craft currently docked to the station's Rassvet module and close the hatchway around 2:45 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.

Fossum, Volkov and Furukawa have been living on the station since June 9. 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 Burbank, Shkaplerov and Ivanishin until another Russian Soyuz spacecraft launches sometime Dec. 21 and docks two days later, boosting the crew back to the full size of six with the addition of Russia's Oleg Kononenko, NASA's Don Pettit and Europe's Andre Kuipers.

Monday's Soyuz departure activities begin when the command to open hooks and latches firmly holding the capsule to its docking port is sent at 5:57 p.m. EST (2257 GMT). Physical separation between the two craft occurs three minutes later at 6:00 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. The capsule's modernized autopilot avionics will undergo a brief test before the final separation burn occurs at 6:10 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 8:32:21 p.m. EST (0132:21 GMT) that slows the ship by 257 miles per hour, just enough to slip out of orbit for the return to Earth. The burn will last four minutes and 16 seconds.

Shortly before reaching the top of the atmosphere, the Soyuz's three distinct modules will separate at 8:59:13 p.m. EST (0159:13 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 9:02:05 p.m. EST (0202:05 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 9:10:43 p.m. (0210:43 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 9:25:13 p.m. EST (0225:13 GMT) on the steppes of Kazakhstan. The target landing spot is 51.00 degrees North latitude and 67.10 degrees East longitude. The mission concludes with a duration of 167 days, 6 hours and 12 minutes.

It will be about 33 minutes before sunrise at the landing site, which is located about 35 miles northeast from the town of Arkalyk.

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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