Homebound Space Station Crew Prepares For Departure

A crew homebound from the International Space Station is strapping in to a Russian Soyuz spacecraft for an overnight atmospheric reentry and landing in central Asia -- a trip that will wind up 169 days in space.

Russian cosmonaut Max Suraev will be at the controls of the Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft when it undocks and gently eases away from the International Space Station a little after 4 a.m. EDT, setting out on a 3.5-hour return to Earth. U.S. astronaut Jeffrey Williams will be at his side. The two launched Sept. 30 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and will be returning to Earth on the north-central steppes of that Asian nation.

You can watch the undocking live here in The Flame Trench beginning at 3:45 a.m. Click the NASA TV box on the right side of the page to launch our NASA TV viewer and live coverage. Refresh this page for periodic updates. The departure us scheduled at about 4:03 a.m.

Suraev and Williams bid adieu to their station crewmates -- Russian cosmonaut and station commander Oleg Kotev, Japanese flight engineer Soichi Noguchi and U.S. astronaut Timothy Creamer -- about 12:40 a.m. But the station's prime communications antenna was not available to downlink live TV, so we expect a replay when live coverage comes back up around 3:45 a.m. EDT.

Suraev and Williams boarded their Soyuz, which is docked to the Russian Poisk module, around 12:45 a.m. and then hatches were sealed between the Soyuz and the station. A series of leak checks followed to make certain there is an airtight seal between the craft.

The two returning crewmates have been aboard the station for 167 days. Williams is tallying his 362nd day in space over the course of a single shuttle mission and two station expeditions. He now ranks fourth among U.S. astronauts for total cumulative time in orbit.

NASA Chief Astronaut Peggy Whitson is first with 377 days; Michael Foale is second with 374 days and Mike Fincke is third with 366 days.

The longest single stay in space was 437 days, 18 hours, by Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov.