Paying passengers have lined up to rocket to space to experience a few minutes of weightlessness.

In this photo released by Roscosmos Space Agency, NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy sits in a chair shortly after landing near town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020. (Roscosmos Space Agency, via AP)MOSCOW – A trio of space travelers safely returned to Earth on Thursday after a six-month mission on the International Space Station. Cassidy will board a NASA plane back to Houston, while Vagner and Ivanishin will fly home to Star City, Russia. Cassidy, Ivanishin and Vagner spent 196 days in orbit, having arrived at the station on April 9. Cassidy, returning from his third space mission, has now spent a total of 378 days in space, the fifth highest among U.S. astronauts.

***11:33 p.m. 10/21/2020***A trio of space travelers has safely returned to Earth after a six-month mission on the International Space Station***ORIGINAL***One American and two Russian space explorers will depart their temporary home on the International Space Station Wednesday evening and journey back to Earth in a spacecraft, landing in Kazakhstan. After spending 195 days in space, NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner will depart the ISS in the Russian Soyuz spacecraft just after 7:30 p.m. The hatch closed earlier in the day after Cassidy handed over command of the space station to Russian cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov. NASA astronauts Kate Rubins and Russian cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov also remain on the ISS. This will mark the second crewed flight for the private U.S. company since the return to human spaceflight from Florida earlier this summer.

Astronauts living on the International Space Station used a creative tool to trace the elusive leak on the orbiting laboratory: tea leaves, according to Russian News Agency TASS. NASA and the Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos, have been tracking a slow leak on the space station for more than a year, but its cause and location eluded the space agencies until recently. In September, the astronauts on the ISS were able to trace the leak to Zvezda, the Russian segment of the Space Station. “Russian crew members were able to temporarily seal the air leak teams have been investigating aboard the station,” a NASA Johnson Space Center spokesperson said. It’s unclear what caused the leak, but it’s not the first time a part of the space station or a spacecraft has suffered damage.

NASA and the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos are still working to determine what is causing a small air leak on the International Space Station, the source of which has so far evaded detection. This will be the second time the astronauts will isolate in an effort to trace the air leak. Both Moscow and Houston Mission Control Centers have been tracking a tiny air leak for several months. For the past two days, Cassidy and Ivanishin have been inspecting all of the window seals on the space station using an ultrasonic leak detector. Next month, NASA and its international partners will celebrate 20 years of astronauts permanently living on the space station.

NASA Astronaut Chris Cassidy will hang out with his Russian counterparts on their end of the International Space Station this weekend to allow NASA to run tests on a small leak first detected almost one year ago. The U.S. space agency announced the space station shuffle Thursday in a news release. Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Ivan Vagner and Anatoly Ivanishin are not in any danger, NASA assured, and will have plenty of room in the Russian module. The International Space Station (Image credit: NASA) (WKMG 2020)With this weekend’s test, NASA officials hope to determine which module is experiencing a higher-than-normal leak rate and have preliminary results by the end of next week. In October, SpaceX will send up three NASA astronauts and a Japanese astronaut in the first operational mission for the Crew Dragon spacecraft.

In this image from video made available by NASA, astronauts Doug Hurley, left, and Bob Behnken prepare for undocking from the International Space Station, aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on Saturday, Aug. 1, 2020. Space station commander Chris Cassidy rang the ship's bell as Dragon pulled away, 267 miles (430 kilometers) above Johannesburg, South Africa. The astronauts' homecoming will cap a mission that ended a prolonged launch drought in the U.S., which has relied on Russian rockets to ferry astronauts to the space station since the end of the shuttle era. The flag — which also flew on the first shuttle flight in 1981 — became a prize for the company that launched astronauts first. The next SpaceX crew flight is targeted for the end of September.

Space station commander Chris Cassidy rang the ship's bell as Dragon pulled away, 267 miles (430 kilometers) above Johannesburg, South Africa. "It's been a great two months, and we appreciate all you've done as a crew to help us prove out Dragon on its maiden flight, Hurley radioed to the space station. The astronauts' homecoming will cap a mission that ended a prolonged launch drought in the U.S., which has relied on Russian rockets to ferry astronauts to the space station since the end of the shuttle era. In launching Hurley and Behnken from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on May 30, SpaceX became the first private company to send people into orbit. The next SpaceX crew flight is targeted for the end of September.

On Wednesday, July 29, 2020, SpaceX and NASA cleared the Dragon crew capsule to depart the International Space Station and head home after a two-month flight. (NASA via AP)CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. Tropical weather barreling toward Florida could delay this weekends planned return of the first SpaceX crew. On Wednesday, SpaceX and NASA cleared the Dragon crew capsule to depart the International Space Station and head home after a two-month flight. SpaceX is already preparing to launch a second crew to the space station at the end of September. NASA wants six weeks between the splashdown and the launch of the next Dragon crew, for capsule inspections and reviews.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. Astronauts squeezed in one last spacewalk Tuesday before turning their attention to the all-important end to SpaceXs first crew flight. NASAs Bob Behnken and Chris Cassidy floated out of the International Space Station on their fourth and final spacewalk in under a month. It was the 10th spacewalk in each of their careers, tying the U.S. record set by previous space station residents. SpaceX is aiming for a splashdown off the Florida coast in August the first splashdown for astronauts in 45 years. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said once Tuesday's spacewalk is finished, the astronauts are going to be focused like a laser on coming home."

NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Chris Cassidy are going back out into the vacuum of space Wednesday to perform more maintenance on the International Space Station. Watch: https://t.co/AcKX8sGOVD https://t.co/AcKX8sGOVD — NASA (@NASA) July 1, 2020During the prior first walk, the astronauts worked ahead of schedule completing some of the tasks planned for Wednesday. Spacewalking astronauts wear a wrist mirror on each sleeve to get better views while working. pic.twitter.com/vaAzbDWalw — NASA (@NASA) July 1, 2020“I just happened to glance down and I saw this reflecting thing disappearing into the darkness, and that was the last I saw of it,” Cassidy said in an interview with The Associated Press. The astronauts will be recognizable in the NASA TV feed by their spacesuits.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. The commander of the International Space Station said Monday that losing a mirror during last weeks otherwise successful spacewalk was a real bummer.NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy said he has no idea how the small mirror on his left sleeve came off. The band for the mirror is on pretty tight, he noted, and it may have caught on a metal tether attachment as he exited the airlock Friday. That was a real bummer for me.Hell use a spare for Wednesdays spacewalk, the second of four he and NASA astronaut Bob Behnken will do to replace old station batteries. Spacewalking astronauts wear a mirror on each sleeve to see the displays on their chest control panel. ___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education.

Two NASA astronauts did some home maintenance Friday on the orbiting laboratory 200 miles above Earth during a seven-hour spacewalk. Astronauts Bob Behnken and Chris Cassidy ventured out of the International Space Station Friday morning to install batteries outside the station. Once outside, the astronauts began work on one of two power channels on the far starboard truss of the station. https://t.co/SN3Y9zOMwr — NASA (@NASA) June 26, 2020As he stepped out of the ISS, Cassidy lost a small mirror on his spacesuit adding to the millions of pieces of junk orbiting the Earth. While millions of pieces of space debris orbit Earth, more than 20,000 items including old rocket parts and busted satellites are big enough to be tracked in order to safeguard the space station and functional satellites.

This photo provided by NASA shows NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and NASA Flight Engineer Bob Behnken during a spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Friday, June 26, 2020. Cassidy and Behnken, are conducting the first of at least four spacewalks to replace the last bunch of old station batteries. (NASA via AP)

This photo provided by NASA shows NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and NASA Flight Engineer Bob Behnken during a spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Friday, June 26, 2020. Cassidy and Behnken, are conducting the first of at least four spacewalks to replace the last bunch of old station batteries. (NASA via AP)CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A spacewalking astronaut added to the millions of pieces of junk orbiting the Earth on Friday, losing a small mirror on his sleeve as soon as he emerged from the International Space Station for battery work. Cassidy and Bob Behnken hustled through the first of four planned spacewalks to replace the last bunch of old station batteries. The spacewalkers also paid tribute to NASA's space station program manager, Kirk Shireman, retiring Friday after 35 years to go into private industry.

CORRECTS TO NASDAQ, NOT NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE - In this image from video made available by NASA, astronaut Chris Cassidy, right, rings the opening bell of the Nasdaq Stock Exchange accompanied by fellow astronauts Robert L. Behnken, left, and Doug Hurley in the International Space Station on Tuesday, June 2, 2020. (NASA via AP)CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. The astronauts launched into orbit by SpaceX joined in the ringing of the opening bell for the Nasdaq on Tuesday to mark a pivotal moment" for the space economy. NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken took part in the ceremony from the International Space Station, three days after their launch by Elon Musks company. The two astronauts floated alongside space station commander Chris Cassidy as he rang a ships bell to open trading on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange. Their image, along with live-streamed pictures of other NASA staff, lit up the Nasdaq marquee in New York's Times Square.

Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley have joined American Chris Cassidy and two Russian cosmonauts on the International Space Station. Later on in the week youll have a chance to see the bright dot, also known as the ISS, zip across the night sky. Friday and Saturday will be the best times, weather permitting, to see the ISS flyover Central Florida. Saturday no doubt offers the best time to see the ISS pass by weather permitting. Saturday presents the best opportunity to see the ISS weather permitting.