WASHINGTON -- The tumble from orbit of Russia’s Mir space station is becoming a spectator sport.

And leading the charge in an attempt to capture the 15-year-old spacecraft's demise in the skies above the south Pacific is Bob Citron, leader of the private U.S.-based Mir Reentry Observation Expedition.

The Mir tracking team plans to wing its way near the splashdown zone and witness the destructive death throes of the huge space station as it plummets into the ocean.

The plane for Citron’s Mir Reentry Observation Expedition will fly to the most ideal and safest location in a remote area of the south Pacific Ocean. High above any cloud tops, observers onboard are to watch firsthand the space station’s fiery fall.

The impact zone for tons of Mir leftovers is some 1,850 miles (3,000 kilometers) east of New Zealand’s southern tip.

The chartered aircraft will fly parallel to Mir’s reentry corridor. Passengers will watch as the station drops into the sea, with the center line of the crash zone some 200 miles (322 kilometers) off in the distance.

Russian space officials now expect the 130-ton Mir (117 metric tons) to naturally fall from space on March 26, plus or minus seven days. Nobody can tell for sure how solar winds will impact the Earth’s atmosphere, causing it to expand and slow down the Mir as it speeds around the planet.

Meanwhile, the expedition, Citron told SPACE.com, is quickly coming together and, quite literally, everything is falling into place.

"All is going great. We’ve got a team of astronomers, satellite tracking experts, as well as special guests onboard. The plane is filling up quickly. There are only a few window seats left," Citron said.

Joining the expedition are several senior Mir cosmonauts, as well as one of the key designers of the orbiting complex. SPACE.com contributing correspondent, Yuri Karash, an expert on the Russian space program, is on the flight as well.

Those interested in becoming part of the expedition can find price and application information for a slot on the aircraft at a special Web site: www.MirReentry.com.

One Mir watcher ready for the one-time event if schedule permits is Apollo 11 Moonwalker, Buzz Aldrin.

"Being able to be there, in the air, and catch up with something like this as it reenters will be quite a feat," Aldrin said. "Pinpointing exactly where it comes in and have an airplane catch up with it, that’s more difficult than trying to rendezvous with or watch an eclipse go by," he said.

"I think it’s a marvelous challenge and it’s rare that any human beings can do that...to watch the spectacular nature of this," Aldrin said.

The voyage is rapidly being booked.

Initially, a few months ago, a modest twin-engine plane was being secured to fly just eight people to watch the reentry. Due to worldwide interest in the station’s fall, a Boeing 747/200 jetliner is now being eyed, Citron said.

Such a long-range aircraft is a must.

A Tahiti staging area for the expedition is now planned, although Fiji is also under consideration. "The event area is so far away from any habitable location," Citron said. "So we need a plane with considerable range."

Plans are to fill the observation plane with high-definition television (HDTV) cameras, recording equipment, scientific instruments, as well as other gear for real-time contact with Mir control in Moscow before, during and after the station’s plunge to a watery grave.

"We’re hoping to have the event on the Internet for the world to see," Citron said.

Typically, anybody that takes to the air is quick to avoid that deadly, elbow-to-elbow "middle seat."

But in this case, those chairs are being filled up, as are other non-window seats. People want to take part in the event even though a direct, out-the-window view of Mir’s demise from the one side of the plane facing the spectacle may not be possible, Citron said.

Aircraft-carried HDTV cameras focused on the Mir wreckage flaming through the sky will pipe that scene to monitors within the passenger cabin. That way, everyone on the plane can view the action outside.

"I think this is going to be the most spectacular light show of the century, at the very least," said Rick Citron, expedition organizer and business lawyer at Citron and Deutsch of Los Angeles, California.

Rick, who is Bob’s younger brother, said watching Mir's breakup in-person will be an adventure without precedent.

"Mir took years to put together and it has been up there for 15 years. Most of those years were very productive in terms of scientific research in a microgravity environment. It’s an end of this first era, and the beginning of the next era which is the new International Space Station. This event is very symbolic of that," said Rick Citron.

Mir’s atmospheric pyrotechnics are to be in view by the airborne expedition for just four to five minutes. Whether Mir’s destruction takes place over the ocean in darkness, twilight or daylight depends on the actual date and the station’s final orbit.

"I expect to see five fireballs from the modules as they explode and break apart. Also, I expect to see thousands of pieces streaking across the sky, much like shooting stars, except all at once," Rick Citron said.

"I’ve wanted to see the Mir reenter since it went up," said Bob Citron. "I said goodbye to it a few nights ago. It’s been cloudy here but we had one clear night and it made a beautiful pass right over Seattle. It was almost a tearful experience for me because I’ve tracked it for 15 years," he said.