During a brief change-of-command ceremony today, outgoing Expedition 5 commander Valery Korzun formally turned over the international space station to Expedition 6 commander Kenneth Bowersox, a veteran space shuttle commander with four previous flights to his credit.

"I'm ready to be relieved," Korzun said, floating in the U.S. Destiny laboratory module with his two crewmates, the Expedition 6 crew and the shuttle Endeavour's four astronauts.

"Valery, i relieve you of command," Bowersox said.

"I stand relieved," Korzun concluded. Crewmate Peggy Whitson, the Expedition 5 science officer, then rang the ship's bell in accordance with naval tradition.

Korzun, Whitson and flight engineer Sergei Treschev were launched to the station June 5. They were officially replaced as the lab's on-board residents within a few hours of Endeavour's docking Monday by Bowersox, flight engineer Nikolai Budarin and science officer Donald Pettit.

Korzun and his two crewmates will return to Earth next Wednesday aboard Endeavour, closing out a 182-day voyage. Bowersox and the Expedition 6 crew plan to remain aboard the space station at least four months and, given the uncertainties of the shuttle launch schedule, possibly longer.

"This is not really a funny time for us because we will miss Alpha, our space house," Korzun said in halting English. "We were so happy to live here, to work here."

Today's ceremony was simply a formality, but as Bowersox said after relieving Korzun, "ceremonies are important in life because they cause us to pause from our hectic routines to try and remember and make important events in our lives."

"This is a very important day in the life of station and in the lives of all the crew members here," he said. "Because we not only change command of the station, but we're changing the crews that live aboard. The Expedition 5 crew has done tremendous work.

"They've set a standard that's going to be difficult for any crew in the future to equal. They've shown people around the world that international crews can accomplish complex objectives and do so while working with a smile. I only hope my crew will be able to work as well over the next four, or how ever many months we end up living on station. Hopefully, more than four!"

Shuttle skipper James Wetherbee, who has a penchant for occasionally waxing philosophical, told the combined station crews "we were honored to serve with you."

"Together, we have continued construction of this ship on the high seas, we've helped Expedition 5 end and Expedition 6 begin," Wetherbee said. "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.

"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. 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.

"Expedition 6, it is your duty to sail on and disappear over the horizon, but return after discovering new lands and make the world a better place."

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