ANN REALTIME UPDATE 09.28.06 2150 EDT: Described as the end of a "fruitful" day by one Russian mission controller, the Soyuz TMA descent capsule carrying Expedition 13 crew members Pavel Vinogradov and Jeff Williams, and space tourist Anousheh Ansari (right), safely touched down in Kazakhstan approximately 35 minutes ago.

Controllers described the landing as "nominal," and ground recovery crews located the capsule about 20 minutes after touchdown. All three crewmembers were described as "hale and hearty" by a NASA cameraman on the scene after each was helped from the Soyuz capsule by doctors.

Touchdown occurred just as the sun was rising on a chilly morning across the steppe... with temperatures of 30 degrees Fahrenheit reported at the landing site.

Original Report

ANN REALTIME REPORTING 09.28.06 1230 EDT: For some, it's been a longer stay than others... but three persons are now counting down their final hours aboard the International Space Station, in anticipation of a return to Earth tonight.

NASA reports Commander Pavel Vinogradov and NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams, the 13th crew of the International Space Station, will undock from the station in their Soyuz spacecraft at 5:53 pm EDT Thursday for a landing at 9:14 pm in the steppes of Kazakhstan. With them will be space tourist (or, to use NASA's term, 'Spaceflight Participant') Anousheh Ansari, the American businesswoman who flew to the space station with the Expedition 14 crew last week.

Upon their return from orbit, Vinogradov and Williams will spend several weeks in Star City, near Moscow, for debriefing and medical examinations. Vinogradov served aboard the Russian space station Mir for 198 days in late 1997 and early 1998. He did five spacewalks there, and another with Williams on Expedition 13. Williams, an Army colonel, flew on STS-101 in May 2000. He did one spacewalk during that flight to the station, and two on E13.

As Aero-News reported, the two men launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan last March 30 and docked with the station April 1. E13 participated in the return to assembly of the station. The Space Shuttle Atlantis brought the P3/P4 truss and its solar wings to the station during its STS-115 mission September 9 to 21. They also continued station maintenance and did scientific experiments.

Before closing the Soyuz-station hatches about 2:45 pm Thursday, Vinogradov and Williams will say farewell to the Expedition 14 crew, Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin. That crew launched with Ansari from Baikonur September 18.

With the departure of E13, the E14 crew will begin the solo portion of its six-month increment.

Lopez-Alegria is a veteran of three spaceflights on the space shuttle, including two missions to the station, where he did five spacewalks. Tyurin spent 125 days aboard the station as a member of the Expedition 3 crew between August and December 2001.

Joining them during their stay on the station is Thomas Reiter, a European Space Agency astronaut from Germany, also flying under a Roscosmos contract. He arrived at the station in July aboard Discovery on STS-121 and served with Expedition 13 during the last part of its increment. He participated in one of the two E13 spacewalks.

Reiter is the first non-Russian, non-US long-duration crew member on station. He brought the station crew back to three members for the first time since May 2003, in the wake of the Columbia accident.

Stay tuned to ANN for updates on the return of Expedition 13, and Anousheh Ansari.

FMI: www.nasa.gov