Live In Orbit: Hatch-Opening On Tap At Station

Astronauts and cosmonauts aboard a Soyuz spaceship and the International Space Station are performing final leak checks before the opening of hatches between the joined spacecraft.

A historic welcome ceremony will take place soon after the Soyuz and station crews merge to form the Expedition 20 crew -- the first six-person resident crew and the first crew to have representatives from all major project partners -- Russia, the U.S., Canada, Europe and Japan.

VIPs are gathering on the balcony overlooking the Flight Control Room at the Russian Mission Control Center outside Moscow to watch the ceremony. It will be broadcast live here in The Flame Trench. Simply click the NASA TV box on the righthand side of the page to launch our NASA TV viewer, and be sure to refresh this page for periodic updates.

The Soyuz crew includes Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, Belgian astronaut Frank De Winne of the European Space Agency and Robert Thirsk of the Canadian Space Agency.

They will join Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, U.S. astronaut Michael Barratt and Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

ABOUT THE IMAGES: Click to enlarge the NASA TV screen grab. It shows the Soyuz spacecraft parked at the nadir port of the Zarya space tug. You can also click to enlarge the portrait of the Expedition 20 crew.