Live in Orbit: Soyuz Hatch Closed

Hatches between the International Space Station and the Souyz TMA-13 spacecraft have been closed.

Inside the Soyuz, preparing to return home, are American astronaut Mike Fincke, Russian cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov and American space tourist Charles Simonyi, a Hungarian-born U.S. citizen billionaire software developer.

"It's going to be an interesting and fun ride back," said Fincke, the commander of the station's 18th expedition, during a brief farewell ceremony before he climbed into the Soyuz.

Outside of his wife and kids, Fincke said, the coolest thing in his life has been working with international partners in space.

"We do everything together. We're humanity's bright hope for the future," he said.
"So we're handing you over a station with all that. The pressure's on, guys."

"Good luck to you," he concluded.

Fincke and his crewmates embraced and shook hands with Expedition 19 commander Gennady Padalka and flight engineers Michael Barratt and Koichi Wakata.

"Thanks guys for (leaving) station in great safe, condition for us," Padalka said. "We're ready to accept the station command and ready to continue our research and to prepare space station for six-person crew. Honestly, we'll be missing you and you'll be always in our hearts. We'll be looking forward to seeing you again as soon as possible, but not earlier than in six months."

Simonyi, who flew up to the station with Pedalka and Barratt in the Soyuz TMA-14 on March 16, said he'd had a "fantastic" second stay on the station.

"It was a difficult decision for me to fly for the second time," he said. "Now, looking back, I'm so glad that I've done it. I could accomplish so much more with the experience that I had."

Simonyi paid a reported $35 million to the Russian Federal Space Agency for the seat on the Soyuz, which would serve as the space station's lifeboat in the event the crew had to suddenly evacuate in an emergency.

The hatch on the Russian Zarya module closed at 8:46 p.m. EDT, and the internal Soyuz hatch closed two minutes later, followed by leak checks.

The Soyuz is scheduled to undock from the station at 11:55 p.m. EDT and land in southeastern Kazakhstan is planned at 3:16 a.m. EDT Wednesday.

Check back here at 11:30 p.m. for more live NASA TV coverage and updates.

IMAGE NOTE: Click to enlarge the images. Above, Expedition 18 commander Mike Fincke climbs into the Soyuz spacecraft. Below, the crews of Expedition 18 and Expedition 19 gather for a farewell ceremony in the International Space Station. An exterior picture shows the Soyuz TMA-13 (right) and a Progress cargo vehicle (left) docked to the station.