International space station and the crew of expedition 63. Its an exciting day for us all, as we bid farewell to our two friends and colleagues, bob and doug, as they complete the journey of this amazing test mission. It was roughly two months ago when we were ready at this very hatch and greeted them aboard. We changed from a crew of three to a crew of five. We executed two months of fantastic space station science and technical objectives with space walks and robotics that we are very proud of and happy to have doug and bob be part of that. Sad to see them go, but excited for what it means to our International Space program to add this capability to bring people back to the space station in lowearth orbit with another capability such as the crew dragon. Before i hand the mic over to bob and doug, i want to make mention of this very special flag. History,ep space getting deeper. This flag will return to earth and the crew dragon guys spend a little bit of time on earth, and very soon make a trip to the moon in short order. Yours,he flag is all its been a pleasure, here you go. Thanks for this. This flag has spent some time up here, on the order of nine years since we dropped it off after it flew on sts one. We are proud to return this flag it onnd see what next for its journey to the moon. Words just what it was like to be a part of this expedition, expedition 63. It will be kind of a memory that lasts a lifetime for me. All of the incredible teamwork and accomplishments with the highlights being the four spacewalks we did together as a crew of five to have success and complete that part of the upgrade for the International Space station, which leaves it in a great posture for the future. The other thing to think about for us is our mission is not over. The test flight is, in some ways, just two thirds complete. We completed the rendezvous and docking. We completed our docked objectives. Now is the splash down phase after we undock hopefully later today. We will be focused on completing those objectives. Teams are working really hard, especially with the dynamics of the weather in the next few days around florida. And we appreciate those efforts. That work isnt easy. And of course, for the men and women of the commercial crew program and spacex, all the work theyve done to get us to this point, were on our way to completing this test flight. Its been a true honor. Bob as doug mentioned, were part of a test mission that began two months ago with the initial success of launching from american soil, bringing launches of astronauts back to the florida coast. Back to the florida coast. I am extreme live proud to have been part of that. We accomplished the next third of the mission, which is our time in orbit and checking out dragon while it was docked to be ready for the next launch of the crew one astronauts. As doug mentioned, we are about to embark on the final portion of the journey. I referred to some of our spacex friends, the hardest part was getting us launched. I look forward to the test objectives, not only separating from the International Space station smoothly, but coming to a nice splash down off the florida coast. To come full circle with that capability to launch astronauts from the united states. As i look back on the mission from the International Space station, i am proud to have been part of the science activities the the last two months, spacewalks and robotics activity. Chris and i were able to join the spacewalk club, which is a neat thing. A few short months ago i did not think i would do another spacewalks. To have had the chance to do four more with commander cassidy was icing on the cake. As i look forward to heading back home for the splash down, i do think that, from a family perspective, my son and dougs son are excited not only to get their fathers back, but our zero g indicator that they nominated to go with us to the International Space station, bringing that return capability back to the u. S. He is headed back home soon. You will have to pick which one of us is your favorite. Speaking of historic moments, we were reminded fairly recently that we are at the 45th anniversary of the apollo soyuz test project, which was also the last time a u. S. Spacecraft splashed down rather than landed on land. It is neat to have that permission that exemplified mission that exemplified the teamwork between what was then the soviet union and the united states, to be able to share this mission. The tremendous amount of teamwork they have put forth over the mission has been exceptional. Forant thank them enough their contribution to the test mission. Thank you. It is a pleasure to share the station with your crew. Thank you for be part of for being part of expedition 63. Today, the weather being favorable, it is time to close the hatches. As you showed, an eventful mission. We have no doubt that your return will be as successful as your launch was. We wish you a safe flight home, gentlemen. The crew has been on for two months. I wish you guys a successful journey. Us. Say hello for concludes our ceremony. Thank you very much for joining us on board the International Space station. We have a few more activities to do in the day. These guys are about 10 hours or so from closing the hatch. Between now and then, weve got a little bit of downtime to rest. After dinner we hit the ground running with all the prehatch closing activities and undocking itself. Stay tuned and join us for that. Until then, all the best from the expedition crew 63. Is houston. This thank you. That concludes our event as we count down to 20 continuous years of humans living and working on the International Space station. You, station. We are resuming operatations. Some of the views you might see from the outside of the International Space station looking at the dragon