Live in Orbit: ISS Farewell Ceremony on Tap

Two Expedition 18 crew members will soon bid farewell to the International Space Station, their home for the past six months.

Mike Fincke, the expedition's commander, and Yury Lonchakov, a flight engineer, will soon climb into their Soyuz spacecraft to prepare for a trip back to Earth early Wednesday

They'll be joined by space tourist Charles Simonyi, the billionaire software developer who has spent two weeks on the orbiting outpost.

All three gathered a short time ago with the three members of the station's Expedition 19 crew for a brief goodbye ceremony, and that video will be downlinked momentarily.

Closure of the Soyuz hatches is scheduled at 8:45 p.m. EDT.

You can watch live coverage here by clicking on the image above to launch a NASA TV viewer.

Fincke, Lonchakov and Simonyi are scheduled to land in Kazakhstan at 3:16 a.m. EDT Wednesday.