CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A new skipper for the International Space Station officially took command of the orbiting outpost on Friday.
Incoming Expedition Six astronaut Ken Bowersox replaced outgoing Expedition Five cosmonaut Valery Korzun, who -- along with flight engineer Sergei Treschev and science officer Peggy Whitson -- will be heading home to Earth this week after spending nearly six months in space.
"This is not really a funny time for us because we will miss Alpha, our space house. We were so happy to live here, to work here," Korzun said during a change-of-command ceremony that was steeped in Naval tradition and included a ringing of the ship's bell.
The ceremony was just that. The expedition crews had already swapped homes a few hours following shuttle Endeavour's arrival at the station complex on Monday.
The exchange is actually recognized when the crewmembers replace the personalized seat liners that are used inside the Soyuz lifeboat that would carry the expedition crew home to Earth in an emergency -- but the crewmembers said they appreciate the ceremony.
"Ceremonies are important in life because they cause us to pause from our hectic routines to try and remember and mark important events in our lives," Bowersox said. "This is a very important day in the life of station and in the lives of all the crew members here."
Also present for the ceremony inside the Destiny science laboratory was the STS-113 Endeavour crew, commanded by Jim Wetherbee, who took the chance to offer some words of perspective on what they all are there for."We stand in awe of this great ship, built by workers on the Earth who dared to dream, and by explorers in space who sail to the edge," Wetherbee said.
"Someday soon, after we've pushed farther into the unknown, this will be a safe haven in a cold and dangerous place. Until then, this is the edge of the universe for us, the limits of our reach," Wetherbee said. "It's an unforgiving place but it has answers to questions if we're bold enough to search. It has solutions to problems if we're strong enough to survive."
The ceremony offered the 10 humans a short break from a day filled with a steady pace of activity.
Most of the activity centered on moving equipment and supplies between Endeavour and the station. Officials said that as of Friday more than 75 percent of the transfer work was complete -- a percentage that represents about 1,705 pounds of material moved from the shuttle into the station, and about 756 pounds from the station into the shuttle.
While the actual movement of the cargo isn't that tough, knowing where everything is can be more of a challenge.
In fact, the Expedition Five crew have spent a lot of time this week just showing the Expedition Six crew where everything is stored.
"There is stuff everywhere on the station and we have a pretty good computer system that keeps track of it, but it's quicker if you just know where some of the common items are," Bowersox said, noting that Whitson has provided a lot of good insight on the inventory management system.
"She's been steadily showing us little nooks and crannies where everything's located and I think that's what we're going to appreciate when they're all gone," Bowersox said.
Still ahead for the mission is a third spacewalk on Saturday, undocking on Monday and a landing back in Florida on Wednesday.
Officials said that if the mission continues to go well there will be no need to extend the flight.
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