Mark Vande Hei, like many other NASA astronauts before him, will enter a Russian spaceship at the International Space Station early on Wednesday morning.
The space station is one of the few places where day-to-day cooperation between the United States and Russia continues despite the disruption of diplomatic and economic ties because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
After eight hours, Mr. Vande Hei and two Russian astronauts are going to land in Kazakhstan.
During a news conference a couple of weeks ago, the space station program manager for NASA said, "Like we have always done."
You can watch the hatch closure and other parts of the departure and return on NASA's website, or you can watch it in the video player embedded above.
The live video of the departure process began at 11:30pm. Mr. Vande Hei, Mr. Shkaplerov and Mr. Dubrov were busy with procedures that needed to be completed before the hatch could be sealed.
The astronauts were supposed to seal the hatch at midnight on Wednesday, but the crew continued to prepare for the departure at that time.
At 3:21 a.m., the crew of the space station will undock from the outpost and begin their journey back to Earth, but not before the Soyuz completes a flyaround of the outpost to take pictures and video.
The United States government has placed a wide range of sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, including some related to aerospace technologies. But cooperation in the sky has not stopped.
That is despite statements from the leader of the Russian space program. The Russians might leave Mr. Vande Hei behind. NASA officials insisted that nothing has changed after Mr. Rogozin said something.
Bill Nelson, the NASA administrator, said during his State of NASA speech on Monday that the working relationship between NASA and its international partners continues.
Relationships in space have not been spared. The European Space Agency was going to send a rover to Mars. OneWeb, a British satellite internet company, canceled a series of launches that used Russia's Soyuz rockets.
There are ongoing peace talks. Russia promised to reduce military activity near Kyiv and Ukraine said it was ready to become neutral. Even so, weeks of further negotiation may be needed to reach an agreement, and Russia appears determined to capture more territory in eastern Ukraine.
On the ground. Russia gave up some territory in the north of the country, which was a result of a successful Ukrainian resistance.
There are new sanctions. The United States is preparing new sanctions against the supply chains of Russia in order to erode Moscow's ability to attack Ukraine. The new measures will be rolled out with the help of Western allies.
Many American government officials were brought home from Russia because of the invasion of Ukraine. NASA flight doctors, public affairs officials and representatives from the astronauts office will be at the space station to meet Mr. Vande Hei when he lands.
Gary Jordan is a NASA spokesman.
After initial medical checks, the astronauts will rest in tents and then travel by helicopter to the airport where they will board a jet.
An accurate depiction of the sequence of events that should be expected was what Mr. Jordan said the NASA episode described.
Mr. Vande Hei will be back in Houston.
Mr. Vande Hei will be in space for nearly a year. The longest spaceflight by an American is 355 days. Scott Kelly set the mark six years ago.
The last day is different, Mr. Kelly said in an interview.
The final chores included getting in touch with friends and family, throwing away unneeded items, and cleaning up his area for the next astronauts.
Mr. Kelly said that there was drinking water to keep hydrated.
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