Two Russian
cosmonauts turned over control of the International Space Station to their
replacements Wednesday as they prepare to return to Earth with an American
space tourist.
Space station
commander Sergei Volkov and flight engineer Oleg Kononenko, both of Expedition
17, handed the orbiting laboratory's reins to its new Expedition 18 crew during
a traditional change of command ceremony. The two cosmonauts are due to land on
the Central Asian steppes of Kazakhstan late Thursday with American space
tourist Richard Garriott.
"I would
like to thank everyone for the support we've received throughout our six-month
stay on board the station," Volkov said during the televised ceremony. "We
tried to do our best here. We accomplished a lot of tasks."
Volkov and
Kononenko arrived at the station in April and hosted one visiting NASA shuttle in
June that delivered Japan's tour
bus-sized Kibo lab. They also performed two spacewalks outside the station
in July. During one, they retrieved a
suspect explosive bolt from their Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft for the return
trip to Earth.
The Expedition
17 crew's landing will mark a human spaceflight first. It will be the first
time two
second-generation spaceflyers, Volkov and Garriott, will return to Earth
together.
Volkov's father
is famed Russian long-duration cosmonaut Alexander Volkov. Garriott's father is
retired NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, a veteran station flyer aboard the U.S.
Skylab outpost in 1973.
"Thanks to
both crews for welcoming me here onto your station," said Garriott, who is
paying about $30 million for his 10-day trip under a deal between Russia's
Federal Space Agency and the Vienna, Va.-based firm Space Adventures. He is the
sixth paying visitor to the space station and the first American
second-generation spaceflyer.
Volkov turned
command of the station over to Expedition 18 commander Michael Fincke, of NASA,
and Russian flight engineer Yury Lonchakov. The two veteran spaceflyers launched
toward the station with Garriott on Oct. 12 and arrived
two days later.
"You guys
did so much and you left the ship in really fine shape," said Fincke, a veteran
station astronaut making his second long-duration trip. "We're very proud to be
able to take the ship and to work with it hopefully as well as you have."
The third
member of the new crew is NASA astronaut Greg Chamitoff, who joined the
Expedition 17 crew during the June shuttle mission. He will stay on for the
first part of Expedition 18 until his replacement arrives aboard NASA's shuttle
Endeavour next month.
"It's been
an honor and a privilege to serve onboard the International Space Station as
part of Expedition 17," said Chamitoff, adding that Volkov and Kononenko have
become lifelong friends. "It's really sad for me to see them go, but I hope
maybe we can fly again in space someday."
Garriott
and the Expedition 17 crew are slated to undock from the space station at around
8:15 p.m. EDT (0015 Oct. 24 GMT) and land at 11:36 p.m. EDT (0336 Oct. 24 GMT).
Richard
Garriott is chronicling his spaceflight training and mission at his personal
Web site: www.richardinspace.com.
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