A Russian Soyuz spacecraft is due to return to Earth within hours after successfully undocking from the International Space Station (ISS).

The Expedition 16 crew includes South Korea's first astronaut, 29-year-old Yi So-yeon, who spent about 11 days at the station conducting scientific tests.

Also on board are Yuri Malenchenko from Russia and Peggy Whitson from the US.

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New record

Before the Soyuz craft undocked, TV pictures showed the returning crew hugging those they were leaving behind.

They include flight engineer Oleg Kononenko, 43, and Sergei Volkov, 34, the son of a famous Soviet cosmonaut, with whom Ms Yi made the flight to the ISS some 10 days ago.

Ms Whitson, who is commanding the expedition back to Earth, now holds the record for the cumulative length of time spent in space by an American at 377 days, said US space agency Nasa.

Ms Yi, who was chosen from about 36,000 applicants for the mission, has said she hoped it would help warm ties on the divided Korean peninsula.

The Soyuz craft is expected to re-enter Earth's atmosphere at about 0740 GMT and will touch down in the steppe of Kazakhstan just under an hour later.

(BBC)

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