On November 10^th 2014 the descent module of manned Soyuz TMA-13M transport manned spacecraft landed normally north to Arkalyk city (Kazakhstan) at 06:58 Moscow time. The crew of ISS-40/41 long-duration mission formed by commander Maxim Suraev (Roskosmos) and flight engineers Reid Wiseman (NASA) and Alexander Gerst (ESA) returned to Earth, press-service of the Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) reports.

"It was the debut flight for Reid Wiseman and Alexander Gerst, and the second one in Maxim Suraev’s career. During his debut flight Maxim Suraev logged 169 days in space (from September 30^th 2009 to March 18^th 2010) as commander of Soyuz TMA-16 and flight engineer of ISS-21/22 mission. On September 30^th 2010 Maxim Suraev was awarded with the title of the Hero of Russia", - the press-service added.

On May 28^th 2014 Suraev started his second ISS mission as the commander of Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft. During the expedition the Roscosmos’ cosmonaut carried out over 600 sessions and 51 scientific experiments. Together with Alexander Samokutyaev he performed a spacewalk and spent 3 hours 41 minutes outside the station. Now his mission has been successfully completed; he has logged a total of 334 days in space.

“A “space” generation of Drosophila melanogaster insects returned to Earth together with the crew members (the first generation of the insects born after the flight of Foton-M No.4 spacecraft). The insects were sent to ISS on October 29^th 2014 onboard the Progress M-25M transport spacecraft. This experiment was aimed at studying the impact of repeated zero-G conditions on a multicellular organism. These studies are of great importance for the science in terms of deep space exploration,” Roscosmos noted.

Prior to arrival of the next ISS crew the following cosmonauts will be working at the station: Barry Wilmore (commander, NASA), Alexander Samokutyaev (flight engineer, Roscosmos) and Elena Serova (flight engineer, Roscosmos).