Three crew members who arrived at the International Space Station six months ago -- before political tensions escalated between the United States and Russia over the latter's military incursion into Ukraine -- are coming home today.

Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of the National Aeronatics and Space Administration and transport module commander Mikhail Tyurin of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) will undock their Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft from the station at 6:33 p.m. EDT and then land at 9:57 p.m. EDT near the remote community of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan

The return of the team of space explorers will close 188 days in space since they launched from a Roscosmos space port in Kazakhstan Nov. 7.

NASA announced it was severing a majority of contacts with Russia after the country annexed Crimea, but anticipated a working relationship for the station would be maintained.

That move followed President Obama's order that restricted America's dealings in some of Russia's largest sectors, including the financial services market, energy and defense.

In retaliation for the sanctions, Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's deputy prime minister and director of the space agency there, announced at the end of April that his agency would likely halt the taxi service to the station and back it's offered NASA travelers since the Space Shuttle fleet was retired in 2011.

"I suggest to the USA to bring their astronauts to the International Space Station using a trampoline," Rogozin, whose own financial assets will be frozen by the same set of U.S sanctions, said via Twitter.

So far, however, the Russian space transports have continued.

Coverage of Expedition 39's return to Earth by NASA TV began May 12, following every step of the departure, including the change of command ceremony in which Wakata handed over command of station operations to newly-arrived NASA astronaut Steve Swanson, selected to lead Expedition 40.

At this point, NASA TV will continue all activities leading up to the scheduled departure of the Soyuz transport craft, which is expected to begin at 6:15 p.m. and culminate at 6:33 p.m. EDT, the deorbit burn and descent process, which will start at about 8:45 p.m. EDT and, ultimately, the landing at 9:57 p.m. EDT.

The television programming will then feature a number of Expedition 39 post-landing and retrospective features.

Under the command of Swanson, Expedition 40 formally begins its service aboard the station when Expedition 39 undocks.

Swanson and his crewmates, cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos, will operate the station as a three-person crew for two weeks until the three new crew members, Reid Wiseman of NASA, Max Suraev of Roscosmos and Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency, also reach the orbiting laboratory, after lifting off from a launch pad in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, May 28.