Image above: The crew members onboard the International Space Station pose for a group photo in the Destiny laboratory of the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

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Expedition 15 set to return home

As Expedition 15 wraps up and prepares to return home, the Expedition 16 crew members are busy preparing for the arrival of space shuttle Discovery.

At a change of command ceremony Friday afternoon, the Expedition 15 crew formally handed over command of the station to Expedition 16.

Accepting command of the station from Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson, KC5ZTD, remarked, "It's been a very impressive mission, and you guys have performed exceptionally."

The crews will bid their final farewells Saturday night, as the Expedition 15 crew, Yurchikhin, RN3FI, and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov, board their Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft for the return to Earth. They will undock from the station around 3:14 a.m. EDT Sunday and land in the steppes of Kazakhstan around 6:37 a.m.

Joining Expedition 15 for the journey home is spaceflight participant Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, 9W2MUS, a Malaysian flying under an agreement with the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos). He arrived at the station with the Expedition 16 crew, Whitson and Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko, RK3DUP, on Oct 12.

NASA TV coverage of the crew farewells and hatch closure begins at 11:45 p.m. Saturday. Live coverage of the undocking starts at 2:45 a.m. Sunday. Live coverage returns at 5:15 a.m. for the Soyuz deorbit burn and landing.

Flight Engineer Clay Anderson, KD5PLA who joined Expedition 15 in June, will remain onboard as a member of Expedition 16, until his replacement, astronaut Dan Tani, KD5DXE, arrives on the STS-120 shuttle mission later this month.

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