Astronaut set to return to Earth after 288 days

WASHINGTON: The US astronaut who has spent the most time in space of any American will leave the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday to return to Earth. Peggy Whitson, along with fellow crew members US astronaut Jack Fischer and Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, is due to leave the ISS aboard a Russian Soyuz craft at 21:58 GMT and head for a landing in Kazakhstan early on Sunday. Whitson, 57, has been living aboard the ISS since November on a 288-day mission. It is her third long-duration stay aboard the orbiting spacecraft and in total she will have spent 665 days in space, according to US space agency Nasa. Her US record places her eighth on the worldwide list of most time in space, just behind fellow expedition crew member Yurchikhin, with 673 days in space after five flights. The US astronauts are based in Houston, which is dealing with the aftermath of hurricane Harvey and the widespread flooding left in its wake, and Nasa said it would review its schedule for Whitson and Fischer to return to the city. — dpa