Live: Soyuz crew back on terra firma

Blogger update at 12:26 a.m.: The home-bound International Space Station crew now has been hauled off to an inflatable medical tent, where they are undergoing post-flight medical exams. Onlookers are shown here talking photos of the Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft as it rests on the ground on the steppes of north-central Kazakhstan. Expedition 17 commander Sergei Volkov, flight engineer Oleg Kononenko and American space tourist Richard Garriott will return to the garagin Cosmonaut Training Center outside Moscow later today.

Blogger update at 12:01 a.m.: The landing marked the first time second-generation space travelers journeyed together between low Earth orbit and the planet's surface. Shown here are American space tourist Richard Garriott and his father, in the red jacket, Owen Garriott, a retired NASA astronaut who flew aboard the U.S. Skylab space station in the early 1970s and the shuttle in the 1980s. Expedition 17 commander Sergei Volkov is the son of retired Russian cosmonaut Alexander Volkov, who spent 391 days in space during three missions: two to the Mr space station and one to Salyut-7.

Blogger update at 11:56 p.m.: The Expedition 17 crew and space tourist Richard Garriott all have been extracted from their Soyuz spacecraft at the landing site in north-central Kazakhstan. It took a little less than 16 minutes for recovery forces to reach the Soyuz and get the crewmates out of the vehicle. Sergei Volkov, Oleg Kononenko and Garriott all appear to be in relatively good shape. Garriott has been chatting on a satellite phone with well-wishers.

Blogger Update 11:37 p.m.: Touchdown confirmed. Well within the landing zone. Volkov and Kononenko return after 199 days in space; Garriott comes home from 12-day round-trip.

Blogger update at 11:31 p.m.: Recovery helicopters now can see the Soyuz and it appears to be coming back to Earth normally, its main parachute lowering the craft toward terra firma.

Blogger update at 11:28 p.m.: Recovery forces in Russian helicopters are in radio contact with the Soyuz crew. Mission Control in Moscow just told new International Space Station commander Michael Fincke that all is going well and the crew is A-OK.

Blogger Update at 11:25 p.m.: Nominal parachute deploy is being reported at NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston. Landing remains targeted for a zone about 80 kilometers northeast of Arkalyk. Heavy cloud cover and freezing temperatures will greet the crew.

Blogger Update: 11:11 p.m.: The Visiting Vehicle Officer in NASA's Mission Control Center reports a nominal separation of the Soyuz crew compartment and an instrumentation and propulsion module -- a sign that all is well and we should see an on-target landing at 11:36 p.m. in north-central Kazakhstan.

Two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut are making a fiery dive back through the atmosphere after an evening departure from the International Space Station.

Flying 212 miles above Earth at 17,500 mph, commander Sergei Volkov ignited Soyuz spacecraft engines for four-minutes, 42-seconds, slowing the ship enough to send it on a 45-minute freefall toward a landing zone in north-central Kazakhstan.

No problems were immediately reported.

Touchdown is scheduled for 11:36 p.m.

You can watch the action unfold live here in The Flame Trench. Simply click the NASA TV box on the righthand side of the page to launch our NASA TV viewer, and refresh the page for periodic updates.