Live Coverage: Station Crew Farewell, Return To Earth On Tap

A Russian cosmonaut and an American astronaut are going to bid adieu to crewmates on the International Space Station tonight and then seal themselves in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft for an early morning departure from the outpost.

Outgoing station commander Jeffrey Williams and flight engineer Max Suraev will say their farewells with crewmates Oleg Kotov, Soichi Noguchi and Timothy Creamer about 12:40 a.m. and then climb aboard a Soyuz spacecraft at the station. Hatches between the spacecraft then will be sealed and the crew will depart the outpost shortly after 1 a.m.

You can watch the action unfold live here in The Flame Trench. Simply click the NASA TV box on the right side of the page to launch our NASA TV viewer and live coverage of the farewell ceremony and departure.

We'll also have coverage of the undocking starting at 3:45 a.m. and the landing starting at about 6:15 a.m.

Stay with us through the overnight hours for the return to Earth of an astronaut-cosmonaut team that has tallied almost six months in space.