Acrobat, Astronauts To Return To Earth

This story was updated at 9:22 p.m. EDT.

A space clown and two professional spaceflyers are due to return home to Earth Sunday from the International Space Station.

The trio closed the hatches between their Soyuz spacecraft and the orbiting laboratory at 6:06 p.m. EDT (2206 GMT) and undocked at 9:07 p.m. EDT (0107 GMT Sunday), after saying farewell to their crewmates still onboard the station.

"Goodbye station," said departing Expedition 20 commander Gennady Padalka, a Russian cosmonaut.

Canadian space tourist and circus clown Guy Laliberte - the founder of Cirque du Soleil - wore his trademark red clown nose as he hugged the station residents goodbye.

"I would like to express my gratefulness to all my crewmates," Padalka said during a ceremony to hand over control of the station to Belgian astronaut Frank De Winne. "Without my crewmates I would be nothing as commander."

Rookie spaceflyer Mike Barratt is also making the trip home.

"For a first flight I'm probably one of the luckiest astronauts," Barratt said. "My first flight was incredible."

The spaceflyers are due to land in Kazakhstan aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft at 12:31 a.m. EDT (0431 GMT) Sunday.

Space clown

Laliberte is wrapping up an 11-day paid trip to space, which he dedicated to raising awareness for water conservation. His mission culminated in a performance he hosted Friday night from space, in which artists in 14 cities around the world used dance, song and poetry to celebrate water.

For his part, Laliberte, who paid more than $35 million to the Russian Federal Space Agency (through the U.S. firm Space Adventures), said the trip was worth every penny.

"What I've been experiencing here has been an amazing journey," he said. "This was a moment to create awareness toward the situation of water in the world. I don?t have 25 years, the world don?t have 25 years to address the situation of water. I think this was a great opportunity to combine to a personal dream also."

Space veterans

Padalka and Barrat are completing a six-month tour of duty on the orbiting laboratory, where Padalka served as commander of the Expedition 20 mission. On Friday he handed control of the station over to European Space Agency astronaut Frank De Winne of Belgium, who became the first European station commander.

"Our mission was very, very long and very productive, and I would say very eventful," Padalka said Tuesday via radio link from the station. "Right now we are ready to go home, and I hope that the space station will be left in a great position for the next commander and the next crew."

Barratt, a first-time spaceflyer, was an Expedition 20 flight engineer. Waiting for him at home are his wife and five children.

"I have a big family and that?s the strongest magnet on the planet," Barratt said Monday. "I need to get home to them. But at the same time I'm going to be truly sad to leave this place. This crew up here has become a second family."

Barratt won't have much time to rest once he gets home. While in space, he was assigned to fly on the last scheduled space shuttle mission, the STS-133 flight of Discovery slated for September 2010. He plans to begin training for that mission soon after returning to Earth.

"It's been a long time since I've trained on shuttle so as soon as I land, I'm going to hit the books," Barratt said.

Padalka and Barratt were part of the space station's first-ever six-person crew, doubled from the previous teams of three.

"The main goal of our mission was six-person crew," Padalka said. The expanded population helps keep the station running smoothly and allows astronauts to take on more science research work.

SPACE.com is providing full coverage Laliberte's fight and the Expedition 20 landing with Staff Writer Clara Moskowitz in New York. Click here for mission updates and live mission coverage.

• Video - Acrobat Space Tourist Trains for Launch
• Video - Challenging Command: Belgian Astronaut Leads Crew of Six
• SPACE.com Video Show - Inside the International Space Station