Back to Earth: Expedition 13 Astronauts, Ansari to Leave ISS Today

Two astronauts and the world's first female space tourist are set to cast off from the International Space Station (ISS) today and return to Earth.

ISS Expedition 13 commander Pavel Vinogradov, flight engineer Jeffrey Williams and U.S. entrepreneur Anousheh Ansari will undock from the orbital laboratory at about 5:54 p.m. EDT (2154 GMT) and descend back to Earth aboard their Soyuz TMA-8 spacecraft.

NASA will provide live landing coverage for U.S. entrepreneur Anousheh Ansari and the Expedition 13 crew beginning at 2:15 p.m EDT. Click here.

"Pasha, I can't believe that it's coming to an end and tomorrow we're going home," Williams told Vinogradov Wednesday as the astronauts handed control of the space station to their Expedition 14 replacements.

Vinogradov and Williams are completing a six-month mission aboard the ISS that began with a late March launch and an April 1 arrival to the orbital laboratory. The astronauts will land in Kazakhstan at 9:10 p.m. EDT (0110 Sept. 29 GMT).

"I am ready to go home," Williams told the Houston Chronicle this week. "I am ready to endure what I need to endure physically to get there."

Ansari, meanwhile, is marking the end of a nine-day orbital trek and arrived at the ISS with Expedition 14 commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and flight engineer Mikhail Tyurin on Sept. 20.

"Being able to share this with all of you have made this trip very special for me," Ansari told her supporters in a video message posted to her blog. "All your words of inspiration and support for me have inspired me to continue my journey and do more to be part of making a change in the world...to make our Earth a better place to live."

A long-time supporter of private human spaceflight, Ansari was originally a backup for Japanese space tourist Daisuke Enomoto, who was paying an estimated $20 million for an ISS trip under an agreement between Russia's Federal Space Agency and the Virginia-based firm Space Adventures. Ansari took Enomoto's place after he failed a preflight medical check, and documented her spaceflight via an Internet blog where she discussed the joys, wonders and - admittedly - some discomforts of orbital living.

"The most interesting experience - or should I call it experiment - is washing your hair," Ansari wrote in one blog entry before describing a complicated process of making a large water bubble over her head and using dry shampoo. "Now I know why people keep their hair short in space."

Lopez-Alegria said that Ansari's dedication and commitment to her mission, which includes several biomedical experiments for the European Space Agency (ESA) and stoking interest in human spaceflight via her website has changed his previously negative view of space tourism. More than 10 million people have visited Ansari's blog during her spaceflight, he added.

The Expedition 14 crew - which also includes European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter, who joined the Expedition 13 mission in mid-stride - inherited a larger station from Vinogradov and Williams, who saw the station host two NASA shuttles, gain a third crewmember and receive a new pair of trusses and solar wings during their spaceflight.

"Pretty much from the moment I got aboard I loved it," Lopez-Alegria told CBS News of the ISS in a space-to-ground video link. "It's kind of like you maybe inherited something and you get to look into all the little nooks and crannies in the closets and find all the neat stuff in there."

Space Adventures officials said Ansari's flight has gone amazingly well, and helped define how the unique situation of backup private spaceflyers are approached in the future.

"The flight has been fantastic," Eric Anderson, Space Adventures CEO, told SPACE.com. "We're very happy to have flown the first [private woman explorer] and she'll be an excellent communicator, an excellent ambassador."

Anderson said Ansari's husband Hamid will accompany the recovery helicopter crews that will meet the private spaceflyer and Expedition 13 astronauts after their Soyuz lands on the Kazakhstan steppes.

"He will be able to go through and be with the medical teams when they arrive," Anderson said.

"I think Anousheh is having a great time since we arrived at this station," Lopez-Alegria told CNN Espa?ol this week. "She has not stopped smiling and I don't think she wants to go back to Earth."

NASA TV will broadcast the departure of Ansari and the Expedition 13 astronauts from the ISS live beginning at 2:15 p.m. EDT (1815 GMT) for crew farewells and hatch closure. Hatches are scheduled to be shut at 2:45 p.m. EDT (1845 GMT), with undocking set for 5:54 p.m. EDT (2154 GMT) and landing scheduled for 9:10 p.m. EDT (0110 Sept. 29 GMT).

• IMAGE GALLERY: Launch Day for Expedition 14 Crew, Anousheh Ansari
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• Anousheh Ansari: First Female Private Space 'Explorer' Visits ISS
• Complete Coverage: ISS Expedition 14