Live: Station Change Of Command

American astronaut Mike Fincke will officially take command of the International Space Station today in a ceremony that will be webcast live here in The Flame Trench.

Expedition 17 commander Sergei Volkov, who has been living and working at the station since April, will hand over the helm at 1:40 p.m. EDT. The ceremony is expected to last about 30 minutes. Click the NASA TV box on the righthand side of the page to launch our NASA TV viewer.

Fincke arrived at the station Oct. 14 with Expedition 18 flight engineer Yury Lonchakov and U.S. space tourist Richard Garriott. The commander and flight engineer aim to prep the station for larger crews during their six-month stay on the outpost. Details on their expedition can be seen here: Expedition 18 Press Kit.

Garriott, who is the son of former NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, will return to Earth Thursday with Volkov and Expedition 17 flight engineer Oleg Kononenko.

The return to Earth will mark the first time second-generation space travelers have gone through an atmospheric reentry together. Volkov is the son of former Russian cosmonaut Alexander Volkov.

The departure of the Expedition 17 crew, their reentry and their landing in central Asia all will be webcast live here in The Flame Trench.

Look for live NASA TV coverage to begin at 4:45 p.m. EDT Thursday. Volkov, Kononenko and Garriott will climb aboard a Soyuz spacecraft docked at the station and close hatches between the spacecraft at about 5:15 p.m. EDT.

Live coverage of a planned 8:15 p.m. EDT Thursday undocking from the station will begin at 8 p.m., and we'll webcast live NASA TV coverage of the deobit and landing beginning at 10:30 p.m. EDT. Landing in Kazakhstan is scheduled at 10:44 p.m. EDT.

ABOUT THE IMAGE: Click to enlarge and save the image of Expedition 18 commander Michael Fincke floating in the Russian Zvezda Service Module of the International Space Station a few hours after his Oct. 14 arrival the outpost. Fincke previously served as an Expedition 9 flight engineer on the station back in 2004.