Padalka and Fincke arrived at the Station on April 21 aboard the ISS Soyuz TMA-4 spacecraft with European Space Agency (ESA) Astronaut André Kuipers. After more than a week of joint operations and handover activities, Padalka and Fincke officially took command of the Station on April 29 when Expedition 8 Commander Michael Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri left the Station.

Expedition 8 and Kuipers returned to Earth that same day aboard the ISS Soyuz TMA-3 spacecraft. Kuipers' 11-day mission to the ISS was part of a commercial agreement between ESA and the Federal Space Agency of Russia.