After wrapping up shoot for first film in space, Russian crew prepares to travel back to Earth

A space capsule with Oleg Novitskiy, Yulia Peresild and Klim Shipenko will land in the steppes of Kazakhstan.

Moscow: A Soyuz space capsule carrying a cosmonaut and two Russian filmmakers has separated from the International Space Station and is heading for the Earth. The separation took place on schedule at 0115 GMT Sunday with Oleg Novitskiy, Yulia Peresild and Klim Shipenko aboard for a descent of about 3 1/2 hours.

Actress Peresild and film director Shipenko rocketed to the space station on Oct. 5 for a 12-day stint on the station to film segments of a movie titled 'Challenge,' in which a surgeon played by Peresild rushes to the space station to save a crew member who needs an urgent operation in orbit.

Novitskiy, who spent more than six months aboard the space station, plays the ailing cosmonaut in the movie.