U.S. businessman Dennis Tito's excellent space adventure remains set to begin at 3:37 a.m. EDT (07:37 GMT) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Tito and his cosmonaut colleagues -- which include Soyuz commander Talgat Musabayev and flight engineer Yuri Baturin -- boarded their Soyuz spacecraft just before at 1:30 a.m. EDT and the hatch is now closed. Mission Control reports that everything is proceeding normally and an ontime liftoff is expected.
Weather at the desert launch site is reported to be sunny, with temperatures above freezing.
Musabayev and Baturin are flying a Soyuz spacecraft up to Space Station Alpha to replace the Soyuz vehicle that has been docked at the outpost since November 2, 2000. They will dock the new Soyuz, spend a few days transferring equipment and then board the old Soyuz to return it to Earth.
Russian flight rules call for the Soyuz spacecraft to be exchanged every six months because of concerns about the spaceships systems and propellant deteriorating in the harsh space environment. The Soyuz are critical because they are the escape craft for the expedition crews living and working aboard the outpost.
Having paid some $12 to $20 million for the ticket, Tito is riding along with Musabayev and Baturin in the otherwise unused third seat of the Soyuz capsule.
Tito's job: stay out of the way and enjoy the view.
"Right now I feel better than I've ever felt in my entire life," Tito, a former aerospace engineer who found his fortune working in high finance, said during a press conference at the launch site on Friday.
These final days and hours of the countdown have been rich with four decades of Russian space traditions and rituals.
Friday night the crew enjoyed a thirty-year-old classic Russian movie called "White Sun of A Desert," about Civil War in Russia in 1918 to 1922 and the fight for Soviet power in Central Asia.
This morning, matching a schedule of events followed by dozens of cosmonauts before them, the trio started their day with a final shower and regular medical examination that takes about 10 minutes and includes measuring blood pressure and weight.
Next each cosmonaut's body was wiped down with towels soaked in disinfectant. That's followed by putting on fresh clothes and joining crewmates for breakfast.
The menu is generally similar to a continental-type breakfast you might find in a hotel, but a cosmonaut can order whatever they want. Nevertheless, the fliers try not to fill up their stomachs since adapting to weightlessness often includes a bout of motion sickness.
After breakfast Baturin, Musabayev and Tito returned to their rooms where they had a traditional farewell ceremony that included a small drink of champagne and some private time with a limited number of friends and instructors who trained them for this mission.
In fact, only those people who undergo daily medical check ups and are considered absolutely healthy are allowed in close contact with the cosmonauts before a mission. The reason: preventing the cosmonauts from getting infected right before their mission.
Another tradition came next: the three men posed for a picture with their guests and then signed the doors of their rooms.
From there they stepped outside and boarded a bus for a short trip to the "check up" building where they donned spacesuits and held a very brief press conference from behind the protection of a glass wall.
Having talked to the press, the crew picked up their box-like individual cooling systems and went out of the building. There at the small lot right in front of the building, they reported to the Chairman of the State Commission on their readiness to fly in a brief but poignant ceremony.
Another short bus ride later, the crew stepped off the vehicle and marked another cosmonaut tradition that legend says began with Yuri Gagarin in 1961 when he answered a "call of nature," urinating on the bus' wheel. Repeating the action today is seen as a token of good luck.
Inside the Soyuz capsule Tito is seated in the right seat, Talgat is in the center and Baturin, as commander, is in the left seat.
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