Three astronauts from the International Space Station are scheduled to start their return to Earth Sunday.
A Russian Soyuz capsule will carry Italian Roberto Vittori, Russian Salizhan Sharipov and American Leroy Chiao to a landing in Kazakhstan early Monday.
The Italian astronaut has spent the last 10 days at the space station, while Mr. Sharipov and Mr. Chiao have been working there since October.
Two astronauts will remain at the orbiting station for a six month mission.
Meanwhile, the U.S. space agency, NASA, has set a May 22 launch date for the first space shuttle flight since the Columbia disaster two years ago.
NASA says the shuttle Discovery will deliver supplies to the International Space Station, but the major focus of the mission will be evaluating new safety procedures.
Some information for this report provided by AP.
