Cape Canaveral, Fla. — The first commander of the international space station formally handed over control to his successor Sunday night and then retreated to space shuttle Discovery for a late-night departure.
Discovery was poised to undock from space station Alpha after nine days of linked flight, taking American astronaut Bill Shepherd and his crew back to Earth and leaving Russian cosmonaut Yuri Usachev in charge.
Cosmonaut Yuri Usachev, left, and astronaut Bill Shepherd shake hands after Shepherd passed the International Space Station's log to Usachev in this televised view Sunday from the Destiny module. The passing of the ship's log is a Navy tradition when command changes hands.
Shepherd, a 51-year-old Navy captain, was visibly moved as he handed Usachev the ship's log. He followed naval protocol in the formal farewell ceremony, reading his speech with care.
"We pass to your care Alpha's log with the hope that many successful entries here are recorded," Shepherd said. "May the good will and spirit and sense of mission we have enjoyed on board endure.
"Sail her well. I am ready to be relieved."
With that, he turned over the log and shook Usachev's hand.
Shepherd and his Russian crewmates, Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev, spent 4 1/2 months aboard the space station, transforming it from a spartan, three-room outpost to a sophisticated four-room complex capable of scientific research.
"We are on a true spaceship now," Shepherd said. "We are not the first crew to board Alpha or the last to depart. But we have made Alpha come alive. We gave her a name and put substance to the idea that our crews can work together as equals and our countries as partners, that we may proceed with bolder and more enterprising voyages in space."
Discovery is due back at the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday.
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